Prospective Adoptive Parents Devastated By Independent Adoption Center Shutdown

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Prospective parents were left heartbroken this week after the domestic adoption agency they counted on announced that it was closing.

As CBS2's Hazel Sanchez reported, the The Independent Adoption Center declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy and announced that it was closing effective immediately Tuesday – dashing the dreams of nearly 1,900 clients who had hoped to adopt children.

The center had run its New York office at 116 W. 23rd St. in Chelsea, and also had offices in Connecticut and numerous other states.

All of those offices are now closed, and many couples who had been waiting for years to adopt are devastated.

John and Emma Enneking from Indiana, and Rich Bateman and his husband, Will, of Long Island, all share the same dream to have a family.

They were all well on their way until Independent Adoption Center closed without warning.

"We're so brokenhearted," Bateman said. "I mean, my husband and I, we want so badly to start a family, and it was just like that – that dream just kind of went out the window."

The adoption center said in a memo to all clients Tuesday that "the climate of adoption has changed in recent years," and the U.S. now has fewer potential birth parents than at any other time in the center's 34-year history. There are also more hopeful adoptive parents looking to adopt domestically than any time in recent history, the center said.

An IAC spokesman said more than 1,800 clients around the country were in various stages of the adoption process when the agency closed, including 176 couples in the New York area.

Bateman signed up with IAC in 2014 -- completing screenings, home studies, and all initial fees totaling $15,000.

"This has been such a time-consuming process and expensive," Bateman said. "I mean, we'd like to start it again. But it's just -- the emotional toll has just been horrible."

The Ennekings of Indiana said they are also out thousands of dollars with no child, and have to start from scratch again.

"Now we feel like, 'OK, it's not that easy for us to just pick up and start over right now, because there is no easy route," Emma Enneking said. "There's no clear path for us."

Adoption attorney Faith Rouso, who is working with four other IAC clients in the same position, said they likely will not get their money back or any of their personal files.

"Maybe ultimately once another agency takes over their files, but as of right now, my understanding is they're going to be locked up for some time," Rouso said.

Batman said some affected parents networking together on social media claim to have paid agency fees as recently as last month.

CBS2 reached out to IAC to find out if they did accept payments just days before filing for bankruptcy, but the center refused comment.

"I think they need to be held accountable," Bateman said. "Where did they go? They all disappeared. The website's down. The phone lines are down. There's no further communication. I'm just – I'm so disgusted."

Experts said because IAC is a nonprofit adoption agency, clients are less likely to get their money back. But the couples who spoke to CBS2 said they are not giving up and they will continue their pursuit to adopt.