CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KFVS) –

A woman posted that she decided to put her son up for adoption. We found the post on a number of different yard sale pages throughout the Heartland.

Law enforcement said it is legal as long as the parent doesn’t make any money from giving up their child. They would need to go to a courthouse and make sure everything was done properly, but there’s nothing prohibiting it.

We emailed the person listed on the post. In her response, she states that she is currently living in Cameroon. We are unsure whether or not the post is legitimate. 

While this is not illegal, the question is: Is it right? 

Evelyn Beussink Martin, Regional Director at Lutheran Family and Children’s Services (LFCS), says this type of adoption would be called an “independent adoption.” However, she says the mother and the adoptive family would still have legal steps to take. 

“Many adoptions happen that way, where the parties meet and there are steps that have to happen with every adoption, so there are legal steps that have to happen through the court,” Martin said. “So, they would have to go to an agency to help them with those specific steps. But, they wouldn’t have an agency involved in every step of the process.”

She says mothers who are looking for options, seek help at an agency.

“We work with moms who are in desperate situations everyday and might not know where to turn and that’s why it’s important for them to know that there are resources,” Martin said. 

Eric and Kyla Bergmann adopted their son through LFCS. They say the process took about a year and a half, but they wouldn’t have done it any other way, especially not on social media. 

“That’s not the way we would want to go about it, for sure,” the Bregmann’s said. “The whole adoption process is looking out for the welfare of a child. I can’t say Facebook would be the best way to find that person.”

The Bergmann’s say they are glad to have the support of the agency.

“We just thought it was kind of a no-brainer. We needed somebody that is not only professionally capable but also compassionately there,” Eric Bergmann said. 

Amy Rudisill, a mother of four from Morehouse, said if it’s real, she couldn’t believe someone would be that willing to give up their children. If it’s fake or a scam, she said it a sick joke that wasn’t funny.

“If you don’t want your kid, there’s proper ways to get rid of your child,” Rudisill said. “You can give them to the right people. You don’t put it on a yard sale site and you shouldn’t even do it as a scam on a yard sale site because there are people that want kids that would love to go on there and get a child like that the wrong way but that’s maybe the only way they can get them. So it’s sad.”

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, close to 700,000 adoptions are done in this country privately. Law enforcement said part of that process is a background check.

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