Baby Thief: The Untold Story of Georgia Tann, the Baby Seller Who Corrupted Adoption
The story, first told by Barbara Raymond in a magazine article that inspired a 60 Minutes feature, was shocking. Georgia Tann, nationally lauded for arranging adoptions out of her children’s home in Memphis, Tennessee, was actually a baby seller who terrorized poor, often unwed mothers by stealing their children and selling them to wealthy clients like actors Joan Crawford and Dick Powell. Parents would keep toddlers indoors, and the mother superior of a local orphanage hid babies in attics,...
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For almost three decades, renowned baby-seller Georgia Tann ran a children’s home in Memphis, Tennessee — selling her charges to wealthy clients nationwide, Joan Crawford among them. Part social history, part detective story, part expose, The Baby Thief is a riveting investigative narrative that explores themes that continue to reverberate today. Publishers Weekly An episode in American adoption history little remembered by the public at large, the crimes of nationally lauded Memphis orphanage director Georgia Tann are skillfully and passionately recounted by freelance writer Raymond, herself an adoptive mom. The portrait of Tann that emerges is that of a domineering, indefatigable figure with an insane commitment to ends-justify-the-means logic who oversaw three decades of baby stealing, baby selling and unprecedented neglect. Meanwhile, she did more to popularize, commercialize and influence adoption in America than anyone before her. Tann operated carte blanche under corrupt mayor Edward Hull Crump from the 1920s to the '50s, employing a nefarious network of judges, attorneys, social workers and politicos, whom she sometimes bribed with "free" babies; her clients included the rich, the famous and the entirely unfit (who more than occasionally returned their disappointing children for a refund). "Spotters" located babies and young children ripe for abduction-from women too uneducated or exhausted to fight back-and Tann made standard practice of altering birth certificates and secreting away adoption records to attract buyers and cover her tracks-self-serving moves that have become standard practice in modern adoption. A riveting array of interviews with Tann's former charges reveals adults still struggling with their adoption ordeal and childhood memories stacked with sexual abuse, torture and confusion. Raymond's dogged investigation makes a strong case for "ridding adoptions of lies and secrets," warning that "[u]ntil we do, [Tann] and her imitators will continue to corrupt adoption." A rigorous, fascinating, page-turning tale, thisimportant book is not for the timorous. (May) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information
Prologue viiGeorgia's WorldGeorgia's Home 1Georgia's Disappearance 5Billy 15The Plague 21Mollie 31Georgia's Youth 37Georgia's Memphis 59The Little Wanderers 65Georgia's CrimesGeorgia's Methods 89Georgia's Adults 127Georgia's Children 145Georgia's SecretsGeorgia's Lies 201The Fallout 219The Beginning of the End 227Epilogue 243Notes 253Sources 289Acknowledgments 297Index 301
\ Publishers WeeklyAn episode in American adoption history little remembered by the public at large, the crimes of nationally lauded Memphis orphanage director Georgia Tann are skillfully and passionately recounted by freelance writer Raymond, herself an adoptive mom. The portrait of Tann that emerges is that of a domineering, indefatigable figure with an insane commitment to ends-justify-the-means logic who oversaw three decades of baby stealing, baby selling and unprecedented neglect. Meanwhile, she did more to popularize, commercialize and influence adoption in America than anyone before her. Tann operated carte blanche under corrupt mayor Edward Hull Crump from the 1920s to the '50s, employing a nefarious network of judges, attorneys, social workers and politicos, whom she sometimes bribed with "free" babies; her clients included the rich, the famous and the entirely unfit (who more than occasionally returned their disappointing children for a refund). "Spotters" located babies and young children ripe for abduction-from women too uneducated or exhausted to fight back-and Tann made standard practice of altering birth certificates and secreting away adoption records to attract buyers and cover her tracks-self-serving moves that have become standard practice in modern adoption. A riveting array of interviews with Tann's former charges reveals adults still struggling with their adoption ordeal and childhood memories stacked with sexual abuse, torture and confusion. Raymond's dogged investigation makes a strong case for "ridding adoptions of lies and secrets," warning that "[u]ntil we do, [Tann] and her imitators will continue to corrupt adoption." A rigorous, fascinating, page-turning tale, thisimportant book is not for the timorous. (May)\ Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information\ \
