Tennesee Black Market Adoption Information
Personal Letter From Georgia Tann Adoptee:
I was pleased to get your response. I am happy to report that my Mother is
still living and is in very good health for 82 years of age. My mother and my
sister (whom I did not know about nor she about me) received me with open arms
and ended years of serach and questions. I have copies of all correspondences
between Ms. Georgia Tann and Ms. Elrod who was her assistant in these
adoptions. As I understand, many of these babies placed for adoption were taken
from the mothers without the mother ever knowing her baby was alive, as Ms. Tann
and the physician would tell the young mother that her baby had died or was
stillborn. She would then ask the mother to sign the papers for her to take
care of the burial of the infant. However, the paper the young mothers were
signing was actually a form giving up custody of the infant to the Tennessee
Children's Home Society of which Georgia Tann operated. I was born in the Ella
Osborne Home for Unwed Mothers in Memphis and evidently everything was
prearranged. My mother has not yet opened up to provide this information to
me. My observation of the papers that were filed concerning this adoption
procedure is that all the signatures of so-called physicians, my mother's
signature, and others were all the handwriting of Ms. Georgia Tann, as the
handwriting does not match my mothers, but is almost identical for that of Ms.
Tann. My mother went back to the home and tried to find me when I was a year
old and was told that I had been taken to the Chicago area. I have
documentation in my records that this did indeed occur. She asked for a picture
of me and was told that one could not be obtained. My date of birth is
03/19/35. I would be happy to look over the registrant list if you tell me
where I might obtain a copy. Also, if you know of anyone who might have a copy
of the movie "Stolen Babies" starring Mary Tyler Moore, please let me know as I
have never seen this movie about the Georgia Tann story and I have heard so much
about it. Thanks for your interest. I will help any way I can.
Bob
Georgia Tann
"The woman Who Stole 5000 Babies." Good Houskeeping, March, 1991, P
140.
Book Reviews
There was a lot of publicity about this woman during the early 1990s,
including a well-done TV docu-drama starring Mary Tyler Moore.
Tann organized Tennessee Children's home Society in Memphis to remove
children from the slums and put them into the hands of the rich, who would
educate them. She took children out of hospitals, homes, parks, anywhere
she could find a poorly dressed or dirty child. Her system started doing what
it was intended to do, but the huge profits blinded her and turned the system
into outright baby trafficking with little regard to what kind of person the
purchaser was. The "Mommie Dearest" baby was one of her victims. She
left behind a legacy of hate, broken families, stress disease and other
disruptions that would have put her in prison if she hadn't died before the
Tennessee Attorney General could finish the investigation.
In 1950, the Governor of Tennessee called for an investigation of the
Tennessee Children's
Home black market baby operations, said to have grossed $1 million for
Georgia Tann, the
superintendent of the local branch of the home. Tann was accused of
fraudulently persuading
pregnant mothers to relinquish their children. A number of Hollywood
celebrities adopted
children through the home, namely Joan Crawford, June Allyson, and Dick
Powell. During the
investigation, local attorneys and justices were found to be part of the
scandalous network of
adoption that allowed adoptive parents to be out-of-state residents. The
story is dramatic and
shows southern politics at its worst--congenial, respected public
figures running shady deals in
the back room. Thousands of children were placed in adopted homes during
the agency's
operation. Each case is a fascinating story involving the search and
reunion of adopted children
with their natural families.
** Contents **
-- Background to the Scandal
-- Crump's Memphis
-- Matriarch of Juvenile Court: Judge Camille Kelley
-- The Scandal Unfolds
-- The Scandal's Aftermath
-- Congress and the Black Market
-- The Right to Know: The Adoptee's Dilemma
-- Conclusion
-- References
-- Index
** Author **
LINDA TOLLETT AUSTIN, an attorney in the state of Tennessee, has a Ph.D.
in American
History with a specialization in the history of the South.