David Avilla and Advocate for Orphans International: AVOID THEM!

California has required registration of adoption facilitators since 2006.

David Avilla did not bother to register Advocate for Orphans International (AFOI) until mid-October, 2009. This means that it had operated ILLEGALLY for part of 2006, all of 2007, all of 2008, and the first nine months of 2009!

Avilla sought registration at this late date because he and his organization had come under scrutiny from the Gilroy Police and Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office. All of AFOI's fall, 2009, "hosting programs" were abruptly canceled, and rescheduled for later in 2009 or early 2010.

Avilla has also, once again in violation of California law, displayed photographs of "available" children on his website.

Avilla has also been known to "look the other way" when it comes to the MANDATORY background check for host families. He has done this because his arrangements often fall through, and he does not have time to process another family properly. This exposes the visiting children to unacceptable risk.

He has been known to work with "The Stork" (operated by George Kokhno) and "Across the World Adoptions" (operated by Stacy Brown and Lesley Siegel).

Several families have already had an adoption collapse because of his unethical practices.

Avilla obtains his "tax exemption" from Congressional District Programs (a misleadingly named for profit corporation) and the Heritage Foundation. If you MUST do business with Avilla, check with your accountant or attorney before assuming that fees paid to him will be deductible!