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Indiana couple says foiled Baton Rouge adoption left them heartbroken and $30,000 in debt
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BATON ROUGE - A couple from Indiana reached out to 2 On Your Side, hoping to share their story about a failed adoption involving a Baton Rouge attorney and a Baton Rouge mother.
It's a situation that's been heartbreaking for the couple who were emotionally and financially invested, hoping to grow their family. They told Brittany Weiss they have a lot of unanswered questions.
Caitlyn and Adam Otte met online during the pandemic and got married. Adoption has always been in their plans.
"We both love kids," Caitlyn Otte said.
They went through an adoption agency close to home and in August 2025 were matched with a birth mom in Baton Rouge. The birth mom was already working with Baton Rouge attorney Michael Theriot. As the Ottes describe their agreement together, they say they never met the birth mom and never signed any documents with her or the attorney.
"No documents, he gave us a budget schedule. No documents with him," Caitlyn Otte said.
That budget schedule included attorney fees, consultant fees, and living expenses for the birth-mom paid monthly. The Ottes even paid for the birth mom's dental work.
"Of course, teeth affect the bloodstream, and we were worried about the baby," Caitlyn Otte said.
For months, the Ottes texted back and forth with the birth mom discussing doctor's visits and everything was moving in a positive direction. The Ottes had a gender reveal and a baby shower to prepare for welcoming home the baby.
"We had a name picked out for the baby. We had been calling him Sam," Caitlyn Otte said.
Two weeks before the due date, communication stopped. The Ottes were told by the attorney that this kind of thing does happen, and the birth mom can change her mind.
"We understand that, and we knew that from the get-go. But she ghosted us. We have no idea what happened to her, so we're concerned for her and the baby. We built a relationship with this woman for eight months," Caitlyn Otte said.
When the Ottes didn't hear from the birth mom, they started to worry. The Ottes said they received confirmation from the attorney's office that the baby was born.
WBRZ's 2 On Your Side attempted to locate the birth mom in Baton Rouge but was unsuccessful. Brittany Weiss was able to reach her by phone. The birth mom said she wouldn't talk without a lawyer, but then started talking and denied recently giving birth.
"We lost a lot of money, so we're right around $30,000," Caitlyn Otte said.
Theriot served as the attorney in a failed adoption, which 2 On Your Side covered in 2017. Theriot said then, "The law says that the adoption not being done is quid pro quo for the money being given."
Nine years after that case, and Theriot told 2 On Your Side the same thing and that the birth mom doesn't owe the Ottes anything.
In that case, the couple filed a lawsuit against Theriot and settled out of court.
Similar to that case, the Ottes never saw a receipt for money that exchanged hands with the birth mom. The Ottes say they did get confirmation from the birth mom that she received the monthly payments.
Baton Rouge adoption attorney Todd Gaudin of Gaudin Law Group has been handling adoption and succession cases since the 1990s. He confirms that what the Ottes paid the birth mom was a "donation with no strings attached."
While an adoption remains a risky and complex agreement, he says there are things that all parties can do to assess their risk level.
"Everybody needs to have some expectation that they're not going to get taken, and that applies to both of them. The agency and the attorney are the best people to lay that groundwork out. When adoptions go wrong, it's usually because that sort of thoroughness didn't happen," he said.
Louisiana law changed in 2018 to include actual expenses opposed to "reasonable" expenses and the list of things that people could give to a birth mom were reduced.
"This aid is to maintain a mom's health and safety, it's not to give the mom a leg-up," Gaudin said.
According to Louisiana law, the total and cumulative amount of living expenses paid to the biological mother during the term of the pregnancy by one or more agencies or attorneys shall not exceed $7,500. Any additional expense authorized by order of the court prior to payment upon a specific finding that the expense is reasonable and necessary.
The Ottes say they paid the birth mom about $11,000 and had intended to pay an additional $9,500 if the adoption went through.
"We had never done this before. We just thought this was how it was supposed to work," Caitlyn Otte said.
In the Ottes case, they wish the communication had been better.
"Going through this whole process, I feel that this was a scam, I feel it in my bones," Adam Otte said.
The Ottes aren't giving up. They are starting the process over with an Indianapolis law firm. The arrangements are different.
Theriot says he intended to offer the Ottes a fee discount in the next adoption, but they refused to communicate further.
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