This past Friday, the state of Minnesota revoked the license of Reaching Arms International, an agency that advertised adoption services in Russia, Ukraine, Guatemala, Poland and Armenia.

Back in January, the Minnesota Department of Human Services and the state Attorney General announced that they were investigating RAI, which is based in New Hope, a suburb of Minneapolis. Reaching Arms's Web site also lists has an office in Oregon. Reaching Arms is not listed on the Web site of the United States Embassy in Moscow among the agencies that are currently registered as non-governmental organizations in Russia. On its Web site, RAI indicates that its "accredited partner" is the Frank Foundation. Frank does have NGO status and is, like many agencies, now seeking re-accreditation by the Russian government.

Official documents sent to me by the Minnesota Department of Human Services detail a long, sorry list of failings by RAI. Over 28 pages, the DHS lays out its investigation of 36 alleged licensing violations. It uncovered home studies that were not conducted by licensed social workers, referrals issued before home studies were completed, falsified documents on children referred for adoption, billing of previously undisclosed fees, threatening of clients and that RAI had accepted money for an adoption in Kenya even though it was not authorized to work in that country. The investigation also uncovered evidence that RAI was not paying the Frank Foundation the monies that agency was due in a timely fashion.

There were several passages in the DHS report concerning RAI's activities in Russia, and they made me feel very sorry for any families that were involved with this agency. One family was given a referral, and told they needed to pay RAI $7,000 to "secure" the child for adoption. The family paid the money, but several months later, RAI informed the family that the child had been adopted by another family who "had priority" over them. Another family received a referral even though the child's birth father still had parental rights. Still another family was told by RAI that their two referrals had no health problems, but five minutes before they went into court in Russia, they were given documents showing one of the children had a heart problem.

RAI is, unfortunately, not the only agency in the legal crosshairs now. Sandra over at the International Adoption blog just put up a post on the indictment of Focus on Children.

So what do you do to avoid agencies like these? Back in February, I wrote a post about the 10 questions to ask to find a good agency. Chief among them: Making sure the agency is accredited directly, and not operating under some other agency's status. You can also call the government department that licenses adoption agencies in your state and ask if there have been any previous "correction orders" issued to the agency. RAI had been hit with correction orders for unlicensed social workers working on home studies in 2002 and 2004.

RAI can appeal Minnesota's decision. I called its main office, but the voice mail box was full and I could not leave a message asking for comment. I have not yet received a reply from the Frank Foundation to an e-mail I sent seeking its comment on the case.