MASHA ALLEN UPDATE: MASHA SUES ADOPTION AGENCIES; SOCIAL WORKER JEANNENE SMITH

On September 15, Masha Allen and her “guardian and parent” Faith Allen filed suit in the US District Court District of New Jersey against adoption agencies Families Thru International Adoption, Child Promise, Reaching Out Thru International Adoption and adoption social worker Jeannene Smith under the descriptive term Negligent Adoption Placement. When Bastardette first read the phrase on the Civil Cover Sheet she thought it said “Malignant Adoption Placement” a better term, though probably with no legal legs.

Masha is asking for $100,000 in damages, which seems awfully low to me. But as they say, you can’t get blood out of a turnip, and maybe she’s looking for a reasonable amount that could be collected. Masha was already awarded $200,000 in “mandatory restitution ” from her pedophile purchaser Matthew Mancuso. According to the law, this paltry amount is supposed to cover “the full amount of the victim’s losses” over a lifetime (yeah, right!) Masha received nothing from the confiscation by federal authorities of Mancuso’s property, business, investments, and other assets estimated to be in the millions. I am not sure where Masha’s “mandatory restitution” is, but for all intents and purposes she is a state-dependent pauper under the “guardianship” of her so-called adoptive mother, grifter and nut Faith Allen aka Lynn Ginn aka Kimberly Murphy. (see below).

The Allens’ attorney is Philadelphia lawyer Robert N. Hunn, a specialist in Catastrophic Injury; Medical Malpractice; Products Liability; Employment Litigation; Discrimination; Sexual Harassment; Complex Litigation; Torts; Business Litigation. He’s no lightweight. From his law firm bio:

Hunn has twice served on the Board of Governors of the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association and is a past chair of the Young Lawyers Committee of PaTLA. He has worked with the Philadelphia Volunteers for the Indigent Program and the Philadelphia Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts organizing several fundraisers to support volunteer legal services. Mr. Hunn is a fellow of the Academy of Advocacy of the Temple University School of Law and he also provides free legal services to TLC, Inc. an organization dedicated to assisting the families of the 9/11 tragedy with benefits from various government programs and agencies.

Hunn appears in the 2008 Pennsylvania Lawyers

I have obtained a copy of the complaint. Rather than post it with this entry, I have placed it in a separate entry below (Allen v ….) to make for easier reading, and I urge you to go there. I am copying here, though, portions of the Facts in the Case 15-28 and 32-47 so those unaware of Masha’s horrendous and sickening plight (or those whose memories need refreshed) can see the pure rotten ugliness of her case. The individual counts in the complete complaint go into more terse detail.

15. In or about July of 1996, defendant Smith became an employee and/or agent of FTIA for the purpose of identify potential clients for FTIA and for creating awareness of FTIA’s adoption program in the New Jersey/Pennsylvania vicinity. Defendant Jeannene Smith provided these employment services in an about the State of New Jersey.

16. In September of 1997, Matthew Mancuso, a single 39 year old divorced male, residing in New Kensington, PA, submitted an adoption application to defendant FTIA with Jeannene Smith.

17. In application papers submitted by Matthew Mancuso to FTIA, Mancuso indicated that he preferred to adopt a five year old female from Russia.

18. On or about September of 1998, Mr. Mancuso submitted an application for a home family study to be performed by Adiago Health (formerly known as Family Adoption Counsel).

19. In Pennsylvania and New Jersey, a home study report, required under 23 PA. C.S. §2530 and N.J.S.A. §9:3-54.2 respectively, is an evaluation of the fitness of a potential adopting parent(s) to provide a loving, stable home environment for an adopted child.

20. 23 PA. C.S. §2530(a) provides in pertinent part: No intermediary shall place a child in the physical care or custody of a prospective adoptive parent or parents unless a home study containing a favorable recommendation for placement of a child with the perspective
parent or parents has been completed with three years prior thereto…

N.J.S.A. § 9:3-54-2 provides in pertinent part:

…[A] home study completed by an approved agency shall include a recommendation regarding the suitability of the home for the placement of the child…

21. A reasonable and objective review of the home study performed by Adiago reveals that not only had Mancuso not been in a stable and supportive relationship with another person, let alone a child, for years, the last personal relationship ended in divorce whereby he became estranged from his own biological daughter. Yet, this man was specifically seeking the adoption of a 5 year old girl under the auspices that he could provide a stable family relationship and family environment for her.

22. Despite the red flags in Mr. Mancuso’s home study, FTIA and/or ROTIA failed to perform any investigation into Mr. Mancuso or the veracity of the information he supplied. At no time did FTIA investigate Mancuso’s fitness to adopt a child or question the reasonableness of the information contained in the home study report.

23. On or about January 26, 2998, Mancuso sent FTIA a written letter as to why he wanted to adopt as well as reference letters including one that he forged from his own daughter Rachel Mancuso Byers. In Mr. Mancuso’s letter, he writes,

it became clear to me that I really need the day to day routine and family to make my life complete. I then began investigating the possibility of adopting.”

24. At no time did FTIA, Jeannene Smith, or subsequently ROTIA question Mancuso as to why he sought to create a family through the adoption of a 5 year old girl. and not by the customary means of dating, marriage and procreation. At no time did FTIA, Jeannene Smith, or subsequently ROTIA question the reasonableness of why a single man who had been divorced over 11 years with no evidence that he had engaged in a stable relationship with another person during that 11 year period, needed to create a family with a 5 year old girl.

25. Despite the red flags, FTIA, Jeannene Smith, and subsequently ROTIA failed to investigate or otherwise determine the veracity of Mr. Mancuso’s statement.

26. At no time did FTIA, ROTIA or Smith contact the Mancuso’s birth daughter to determine the veracity of the forged reference letter.

27. Although FTIA was not the agency that ultimately placed the minor plaintiff with Mancuso, FTIA facilitated the adoption process and at no time acted on the red flags evident in Mancuso’s efforts to adopt a young girl.

28. In or about February of 1998, defendant Jeannene Smith ceased her employment relationship with FTIA and formed an entity known as Reaching out Through International Adoption (“ ROTIA”).

and 32-47:

32. Pennsylvania Code 55 Pa. Code §3350.13 requires a minimum of 3 post adoption placement supervisory visits with the child and the adoptive parent(s) within a six month period.

(NOTE: 33 is missing)

34. Russian law required Mancuso to undergo four post placement visits performed at six, twelve, twenty-four and thirty-six months. Reports generated by those visits were to be forwarded to the Russian Government.

35. ROTIA and Jeannene Smith never informed the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania that a child had been placed in the home of Mancuso.

36. Upon information and belief, ROTIA and Jeannene Smith never informed Adiago Health that a child had been placed with Mancuso nor sought Adiago’s assistance in performing post placement evaluations of Mancuso.

37. ROTIA and Jeannene Smith knew that Mancuso was not obtaining appropriate post placement evaluations but failed to investigate and take appropriate action to have a proper post placement evaluation performed.

38. On or about March 23, 1999, ROTIA and Jeannene Smith received a post placement evaluation of Mancuso and the minor plaintiff from an entity called Social Services of Western Pennsylvania. Neither ROTIA nor Jeannene Smith knew of an entity called Social Services of Western Pennsylvania and in fact no such entity existed and the evaluation was fake.

39. ROTIA and Jeannene Smith failed to take appropriate and reasonable action to determine whether Social Services of Western Pennsylvania was a viable agency.

40. In November of 2000, ROTIA and Jeannene Smith performed a postplacement evaluation by telephone with Mr. Mancuso despite the fact that post placement evaluations are required to be performed in person.

41. Had ROTIA performed an in person post placement evaluation of Mr. Mancuso, they would have determined that Mancuso did not provide the minor plaintiff with her own bedroom and required the minor plaintiff to sleep with him.

42. Had FTIA acted on the red flags evident in Mancuso’s adoption application and home study, the minor plaintiff’s adoption by Mancuso would not have occurred.

43. Had ROTIA and Smith acted on the red flags evident in Mancuso’s adoption application and home study and had properly performed post placement evaluations, the minor plaintiff’s adoption by Mancuso would not have occurred and/or would have been terminated.

44. Over a period of approximately five years, Mr. Mancuso molested the minor plaintiff and sexual abused her on a nightly basis. At times, Mr. Mancuso chained the minor plaintiff in the basement.

45. To prevent the minor plaintiff from maturing, Mancuso starved her and only provided her small rations of food.

46. Over a period of approximately five years, Mancuso took hundreds sexually explicit photographs of the minor plaintiff and posted them on the internet. Mancuso subjected the minor plaintiff to extreme exploitation, sadomasochism, starvation and forced exhibitionism.

47. On May 23, 2003, Matthew Mancuso was arrested and charged with various counts of child abuse. The minor plaintiff was removed from his home and his custody.

The suit does not cover subsequent events which have continued Masha’s gross exploitation, including alleged sexual and physical abuse, and withdrawal of therapy all by new Forever Mom Faith Allen. You can read about this on James Marsh’s ChildLaw Blog (Marsh is Masha’s former attorney), Christopher Witkowsky and Julian Assange’s From Disney World Girl to Drifter and Charles Brown Transcript (both on Wikileaks), Nikto Ne Zabut–Nichto Ne Zabyto (my Russian blog), Family Preservation Advocate (Mirah Riben) and Baby Love Child.

******

In fact, while Hunn and the Allens were filing suit, BLC was busy writing a new blog about Masha: Masha II (no connection to the suit) in which she reviews Masha adoption and post-adoption abuse at the hands of the adoption industry, corrupt courts, religious nuts, crackpot therapists, and Forever Mother Allen.

Here is an excerpt:

The more I learn about her circumstances and the individuals and infrastructure (State or otherwise) surrounding her, particularly in relation to this domestic adoption travesty, is the more sickened I become. She has been used by so many people, in so many ways…

…off she went into a domestic, “faith-based” adoption nightmare scenario, by way of a nutso judge who had delusions of herself enacting the role of a sort of instrument in the hand of god. The adoption, naturally then was chalked up to “divine orchestration“, (never mind pesky details such as the conflict of interest ongoing pre-existing friendship betwixt the judge and the would be adopter.)

As for the (domestic) “faith-based” adoption, Judge Allen (a former Democrat turned Republican, over “a difference in principles,”) has certainly gained in notoriety by her association with Masha’s adoption. Her work on the bench is apparently an extension of her ‘kingdom’ work. Reading over this Google cached copy of her bio from her campaign gives one a pretty good feel for her. Be sure to explore some of the associations, such as her sitting of organizational boards of “faith based” junk psuedo-therapies such as Theotherapy Seminars, Inc (the founder of which thinks ” good theology is good psychology.”) Judge Allen connected Masha’s future domestic adopter, “Faith Allen” to “counseling” through Theotherapy.

Which brings us to the adopter herself, “Faith Allen”/”Lynn Ginn”/”Kimberly Murphy” (and potentially going by other names, she’s) is a story unto herself. She, like a number of other christian autobiographical re-creationist nomads of ’satanic panic’ fame (Eric Pryor as but one screwed up example comes to mind), has her own little bout of ‘personal testimony enhancement’. Despite later recantings of portions of her story, her claim to fame, prior to her getting being awarded Masha, had been running around claiming she was a so called ’satanic cult survivor’…

******

So were does this suit leave Masha? I have no idea. What are Faith Allen’s motives and why is she even still in the picture. IMO, if she were serious, a suit like this would have been filed a long time ago. IMO, Allen is (besides her other “problems”) psychologically dependent on Masha to affirm her own “identity” (whatever it may be –Satanic cult “survivor” and baby blood drinker on Monday, child saver on Wednesday, and child abuser on Saturday night.) Masha will turn 18 in a couple years and will, we hope, extricate herself from this band of pimps, scavengers, exploiters, crazies and adoptionphiles, get the genuine help she needs, and carve out a piece of life for herself. And if she can take down the likes of Jeannine Smith and her horde of child traffickers all the better. If Smith can’t be sent to some dank women’s prison, then bankruptcy court will have to do.

Those of us who have worked on Masha’s case, or at least followed it closely, have been extremely concerned about her physical and psychological health and her virtual disappearance. Last we heard she was buried in the Pennsylvania foster care garbage heap and getting “therapy” from an off-brand uncertified “christian” therapist. A couple weeks ago her MySpace page disappeared. Now, with the complaint filed, we know that she is alive and that her absurd relationship with Faith Allen is still in place, though in what form, we don’t know. The suit, however, gives us a mechanism to get information we could not access before. Robert Hunn appears to be a top-notch lawyer and we trust the best interests of Masha–not the scum that is sucking the life out of her–will prevail. More information may come out soon.

Masha, if you are reading this you are not forgotten.

11 Replies to “MASHA ALLEN UPDATE: MASHA SUES ADOPTION AGENCIES; SOCIAL WORKER JEANNENE SMITH”

  1. I would think a top notch lawyer would be asking for much more.

    Is he doing this pro bono, I doubt it so where is his fee coming from?

    just wondering

    Masha is just an example of what these agencies, and “others” who pay for the services get away with
    the “best” interests of who?

    an orphan, the child who had her life taken from her because of a pedophile’s needs with no back up to a corrupt system there are many more Masha’s out there silently enduring their “best” interests.

  2. I have no idea what is going on, but imo, Faith is selling Masha for pennies on the dollar. This is for Faith, as usual. I’m not a lawyer, but it occured to me this is a demand for jury trail, and the (I think) could order millions. Maybe a lawyer can weigh in on this.Whatever $100,000 is chump change.

  3. I do not understand why the State hasn’t intervened and taken custody of Masha. Someone needs to do right by this child. It is all sickening!

  4. I think it’s clear that the State of Pennsylvania is complicit in Masha’s abuse. You need to go read the various links to James Marsh, for instance, to see how corrupt the state has been in this matter. The state’s interest, imo, is to keep tis under wraps.

  5. Marley asked for a lawyer’s take on this:

    On a quick review of the Complaint, I saw nothing limiting the amount of the claim to $100,000.00. If I missed it, would someone tell me what paragraph it’s in?

    There is a jurisdictional allegation that the amount in controversy is more than $75,000.00, but that’s only there to address one of the requirements for bringing this claim in federal court. Unless I missed something, or the laws of the relevant state limit one or more defendant’s liability to $100,000.00, you can bet that the attorney is seeking much more than $100k. Read “every nickel readily available”, which most likely will come down to how much insuracne coverage the defendants carried.

    I can’t comment on the attorney’s skills, but I will point out that the Superlawyer designation is one that’s a bit tarnished. (I say that despite the fact one of my partners has received the label for some years now and another was recognized as a “rising young star” by the same organization. The bottom line is that the designation is something used by a publisher to promote advertising purchases by those named. Unless you make a purchase, the “honor” consists of a half-inch identifier in its annual Superlawyer edition. There are some restrictions on nominating lawyers, but it is the subject of a good deal of in-house promotion at many firms, not to mention mutual back-scratching. Disclaimer: I’ve never been nominated to the best of my knowledge, so I suppose you can call this sour grapes, if you want. Still, I know too many “Superlawyers” I’d never let a family member hire to take it too seriously.)

    As for doing it pro bono: I think we would have heard of that by now.

    I’m glad to see that so many understand just how limited our system is. All that this case can give her is money, albeit potentially quite a bit. It can’t restore what’s been taken from her, nor is it likely to result in any admission of wrongdoing on anyone’s part or, that rarest of things in our world, an apology for the part played in permitting this to occur.

    I would like to know what the settlement discussions have been to date.

    J.

  6. “nor is it likely to result in any admission of wrongdoing on anyone’s part or, that rarest of things in our world, an apology for the part played in permitting this to occur.
    Priceless!

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