Brooklyn, N.Y. — A former adoption supervisor at a New York City-funded foster care nonprofit has been charged with stamping a senior executive’s signature on adoption paperwork without her permission — including documents filed in Brooklyn and Bronx Family Court in adoptions that were later finalized. John Olufemi, 66, former permanency unit supervisor at HeartShare St. Vincent’s Services (HSSV), was arraigned Oct. 9, 2026, in Brooklyn Criminal Court, according to the city’s Department of Investigation (DOI).
HSSV receives public money through the city’s Administration for Children’s Services (ACS), the agency that removes children and oversees foster care across New York City.
The Charges: 37 Felony Counts
According to DOI, Olufemi was arrested Sept. 23, 2026, and charged with 22 counts of offering a false instrument for filing in the first degree and 15 counts of issuing a false certificate. Both are class E felonies, each punishable by up to four years in prison upon conviction. He was released on his own recognizance and is due back in court Feb. 2, 2027. The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office is prosecuting.
The charges are allegations. Olufemi’s attorney, Lancelot Fletcher, told the Daily News his client “is presumed innocent and denies the allegations.”
How the Alleged Scheme Worked
As permanency unit supervisor, Olufemi gathered the documents and signatures needed for an adoption and passed them, as an “adoption packet,” to the attorneys for the adoptive parents, who filed them in Family Court, according to DOI. The agency’s deputy executive director was the only authorized signer on those forms.
According to the criminal complaint as described by DOI and the Daily News:
- Olufemi allegedly used an unofficial rubber stamp of the deputy executive director’s signature on adoption paperwork without her consent — 22 times between July 1, 2022, and April 30, 2024.
- He allegedly certified the falsely signed documents with his own Notary Public seal 15 times.
- In July 2024, while Olufemi was on leave, colleagues found the stamped signature on pending paperwork. The agency then found stamped documents that had already been filed in Family Court — and adoptions that had already been finalized.
- HSSV fired Olufemi in August 2024. He had worked there since March 2004.
This type of misconduct undermines the integrity of the adoption process.
DOI Commissioner Nadia I. Shihata, DOI release, Oct. 9, 2026
Finalized Adoptions Built on Falsified Papers
Adoption is the most permanent thing the child welfare system does. It legally ends a child’s ties to their birth parents and extended family forever. The paperwork that supports it is supposed to be the most carefully checked in the entire system. In this case, according to the charges, a single supervisor could stamp an executive’s name on court filings for nearly two years before anyone noticed — and the alleged fraud surfaced only because coworkers stumbled on it while he was out on leave.
DOI credited the nonprofit with reporting the alleged fraud promptly. But the timeline raises the questions families should be asking: who reviewed those packets, how did Family Court accept them, and what happens now to adoptions finalized on documents the agency says its executive never signed? Hoodline reported that whether those adoptions will need further court review remains unresolved in the public record. DOI’s release does not say.
New York City agencies and their contractors hold enormous power over families — from the removal of a child, to the termination of parental rights, to adoption. When records in that chain are allegedly forged, it is not a clerical problem. It is a breach of the trust courts place in agency paperwork, and it shows how little independent checking happens before a family is permanently severed.
What Comes Next
Olufemi’s next court date is Feb. 2, 2027. FAN will follow the case and whether ACS, HSSV or Family Court discloses how many finalized adoptions involved the challenged paperwork.
Key facts
- Accused: John Olufemi, 66, former permanency unit supervisor, HeartShare St. Vincent’s Services
- Funding: HSSV receives public funds through NYC Administration for Children’s Services
- Charges: 22 counts offering a false instrument for filing (1st degree), 15 counts issuing a false certificate — class E felonies
- Alleged period: July 1, 2022 – April 30, 2024
- Courts: documents filed in Family Court in Brooklyn and the Bronx; some adoptions already finalized
- Status: arrested Sept. 23, arraigned Oct. 9, 2026; next court date Feb. 2, 2027; presumed innocent
Sources
- NYC Department of Investigation — Former supervisor at a Brooklyn, City-funded nonprofit charged with using unauthorized signature stamp of a senior executive at the nonprofit on adoption paperwork, some filed with Family Court (Release #29-2026) (2026-10-09)
- New York Daily News (via Yahoo News) — Ex-supervisor at Brooklyn nonprofit falsely signed off on adoption paperwork: DOI (2026-10-09)
- Hoodline — Brooklyn Nonprofit Supervisor Charged in Adoption Paperwork Fraud (2026-10-10)
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