Republican Matt Shea embarks on shady scheme to adopt Ukrainian children
Kazimierz Dolny, Poland – Matt Shea, the former Republican state representative from Washington found to have engaged in domestic terror, is currently in a Polish town, apparently engaging in a shady scheme to get Ukrainian children adopted in the US.
Disgraced Republican Matt Shea previously came under fire for participating in a 2016 confrontation at an Oregon wildlife refuge and reportedly training young Americans to engage in a "holy war."
Now, he is apparently in the Polish town of Kazimierz Dolny, defying all official guidance in trying to get Ukrainian children adopted by US families.
Weronika Ziarnicka, an aide to the Kazimierz Dolny Mayor Artur Pomianowski, told the Seattle Times, "I asked him many times, 'What are you going to do with these children?' and he told me that it’s not my business.
"I got the feeling in my gut that something’s wrong with this guy; he didn’t want to tell me his last name," she continued.
On a Polish TV show, Shea said he was working with a Texas-based, Christian group called Loving Families and Homes for Orphans, whose website is defunct.
"It is a hosting organization that hosts Ukrainian orphans in America with Ukrainian families with the intent that ultimately that ends in adoption," Shea explained on the show. "It’s been doing this hosting program for several years."
Pomianowski said the case is currently under review and that no children would leave Kazimierz Dolny without approval from local authorities.
"I do not know what Matt Shea and his friends are doing here around children. Mr. Shea and his friends have given us some contradictory information and, for that reason, it is difficult for us to trust them," the mayor said in an email.
Reputable organizations warn against adoption
The National Council for Adoption have discouraged US citizens from seeking to adopt Ukrainian children at this time.
"It is paramount that the identities of these children and their families be clearly established, and their social, legal, and familial status is fully verified by governmental authorities," they said. "For most of these children, we cannot do that at this time."
The United Nations High Commission on Refugees and UNICEF have agreed that "adoption should not occur during or immediately after emergencies."
The US State Department has not yet confirmed whether they have been in contact with Loving Families.
Cover photo: IMAGO / ZUMA Wire