DeVos-Linked Adoption Agency Exposed Highly Sensitive Children's Medical Data
Bethany Christian Services left information about prospective adoptees' "intellectual development" as well as their medical histories and lab results online.
An adoption and foster care non-profit linked to the family of Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos exposed highly sensitive personal and medical information of dozens of children, Motherboard has learned.
The charity, called Bethany Christian Services, is one of the nation's largest adoption agencies and helps place children for adoption and foster care. It works with vulnerable children in the U.S. as well as refugees and immigrants.
"Our vision is to find a loving family for every child who needs one—that is where they thrive best," the group says on its website.
The exposed data was stored on PDFs openly available on its website. Some PDFs were called "Children Medical Examination Records" that included the names, dates of birth, the hospital or orphanage they were based in, and extremely sensitive medical information.
This includes a child's HIV status, number of teeth, lab test results, and whether the child has any physical deformities ("Spine: no deformity" "Liver: not palpable under the rib; "Anus: no abnormal findings" are examples of the data contained on the form). Other information exposed includes a "Growth Report" that explains the child's background and "motor skills and intellectual development." One notes that a child arrived "wearing yellow baby clothes and she was placed in a paper box" and that, between the age of 10 and 12 months, "she knows her name, can get biscuits, and feeds herself."
The charity has multiple connections to the DeVos family: Brian DeVos, a cousin of Betsy DeVos' husband, was a senior vice president at the CONTINUE READING: DeVos-Linked Adoption Agency Exposed Highly Sensitive Children's Medical Data - VICE
