Independent Adoption Center Files For Bankruptcy, Abruptly Shuts Down

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- There were major headaches Wednesday after an adoption agency shut down without notice.

The Independent Adoption Center declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy, and announced Tuesday that it was closing permanently effective immediately.

The adoption center said in a memo to clients that "the climate of adoption has changed in recent years," and the U.S. now has fewer potential birth parents than at any other time in the center's 34-year history. There are also more hopeful adoptive parents looking to adopt domestically than any time in recent history, the center said.

The center said it had "worked tirelessly" to adapt to the changing environment, but to no avail.

"We therefore cannot sustain the agency any longer," the center said.

The organization facilitated more than 4,000 adoptions and had offices in eight states, including New York and Connecticut.

Families are now scrambling to find another agency to help with the process.