Foster mom was arrested in an alleged adoption scheme that saw her use her two-year-old foster son

Publish date: 2024-02-18
Tina Scee, 54, said she was a foster mother who would help others get adoptions

Tina Scee, 54, said she was a foster mother who would help others get adoptions

A foster mother has been arrested in an alleged adoption scheme that saw her using her own foster son as a way of scamming authorities out of thousands of dollars. 

Tina Scee, 54, from Florida, who ran a daycare, was arrested on Friday and charged with organized scheme to defraud, grand theft, illegally placing a child for adoption and perjury in connection with the scam, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said.

Scee from Interlachen, near Jacksonville, was fostering a two-year-old boy in 2017 and told the Florida Department of Children and Families that she was also working to try to find homes for several other children to be adopted. 

A couple from Ohio traveled to the Sunshine State to meet a disabled boy, named Dylan, who Scee claimed was up for adoption. 

She looked after a two-year-old boy called Dylan, pictured, and found a couple from Ohio, pictured far left, Tim Anda alongside his husband

She looked after a two-year-old boy called Dylan, pictured, and found a couple from Ohio, pictured far left, Tim Anda alongside his husband


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The couple took the child back to Ohio with them but over a period months Scee insisted they return to Florida every so often while the adoption was being processed and finalized. 

The visits, however, were allegedly all part of an elaborate ruse in an attempt to convince Florida authorities that the boy was still living with her so that she could claim state benefits.

'Scee had the couple bring the child back to Florida multiple times in September and October 2017 to deceive DCF during site visits, making it appear she took care of the child full time,' FDLE said.

During one visit in October 2017, Scee was granted adoption of Dylan at a hearing for herself. 

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Share Scee is alleged to have adopted Dylan herself in order to obtain benefits while allowing the child to be taken care of by a couple who wanted to adopt him in Ohio 1,000 miles away

Scee is alleged to have adopted Dylan herself in order to obtain benefits while allowing the child to be taken care of by a couple who wanted to adopt him in Ohio 1,000 miles away

No sooner had the Florida adoption been completed, the boy went back to Ohio with the original couple, the Andas family, who realized something was amiss after they were unable to obtain the necessary paperwork so that they could complete their own adoption process.  

Scee is alleged to have provided the the couple with documents that would allow them temporary guardianship of Dylan, even though he was still within Florida's foster care system. 

But, realizing something was amiss, the couple then decided to contact authorities. 

'I really think that she saw an opportunity to have someone else raise a child and her collect money for it,' Tim Anda told Action News Jax. 

'From the very first moment, Tina presented herself as somebody who worked with DCF and helped find forever homes for children,' Anda explained. 'I kept sending text messages asking if she had received the adoption paperwork or if she filed it.'

Scee has now been stripped of her rights to the child and Dylan is back in Ohio with his adoptive parents, Tim Anda, left, and his husband, right

Scee has now been stripped of her rights to the child and Dylan is back in Ohio with his adoptive parents, Tim Anda, left, and his husband, right

An investigation was opened in 2018, according to CNN which revealed that even while the youngster was living in Ohio, Scee would still receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefit and day care vouchers to the value of $4,000. 

Adoptive parents can also receive a minimum of $417 a month to adopt a special needs child. 

'The allegations against this individual are deeply disturbing and DCF has opened a child protective investigation into this case,' reads a statement from DCF. 'Any time DCF receives allegations of inappropriate behavior by a caregiver, the department will take immediate action to investigate and hold those responsible fully accountable.' 

Scee turned herself in to St. Johns County on Friday and posted a $20,000 bond.

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