After already adopting two kids, the web led Laura and her husband Dennis Trevillyan to adopt their third child, Ainsley. But when they tried to adopt their fourth child, even they fell victim to what authorities say was a fraud. Furlow was arrested last month in Pennsylvania and accused of taking thousands of dollars from dozens of couples to hook them up with birth mothers that never existed. Sonya Furlow was operating as a facilitator. A person who basically plays matchmaker between adoptive parents and birthmothers.
Facilitators are all over the web.
According to numerous adoption experts WFLA spoke to, facilitators typically don't offer counseling and they don't do the adoption which requires legal assistance. They basically charge thousands of dollars to link adoptive parents and birth mothers. In Florida, facilitators are illegal. What it does not have is right to operate legally in the state of Florida. Connie Smith says she's trying to get a license to become an adoption agency, but admits she's been unwittingly facilitating adoptions for more than a year.