She Kidnapped Over 5,000 Children Under The Guise Of An Adoption Agency, Making $11 Million In The Process
For more than two decades, a woman named Georgia Tann ran a large-scale child trafficking ring under the pretense of a legitimate adoption agency.
Over 5,000 children were kidnapped by Tann, and at least 500 children died while under her care. Her actions profoundly impacted countless families and led to changes in adoption laws and practices in the United States.
Georgia Tann was born in 1891 in Philadelphia, Mississippi, as Beulah George Tann. She was named after her father, who was a powerful judge. She hoped to practice law, but her father wouldn’t allow it.
So, she pursued a career in social work instead. After working in Mississippi for a short time, she was fired for removing children from impoverished homes without cause.
In 1922, she began working as an executive secretary at the Tennessee Children’s Home Society in Memphis, a position that her father secured for her with his political connections.
By 1929, she became the executive director and exploited her position to carry out a lucrative child trafficking operation.
During the 21 years she ran the Children’s Home Society, Tann made more than a million dollars, which equates to about $11 million today. Tann targeted families in poverty, often using deceit and coercion to take their children.
She manipulated parents into giving up their children by promising temporary care or better opportunities for them. She also outright stole babies from hospitals, telling mothers that their children had died.
She would then falsify birth records to erase any trace of the children’s biological families, making it nearly impossible for parents to track down their kids again. Tann sold the kids to wealthy couples, such as actors and politicians.
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She also had connections with powerful political figures, who facilitated her operations by looking the other way or participating in the scheme themselves.
It is estimated that Tann was responsible for the illegal adoption of 5,000 children. Many of these children suffered abuse and neglect. Some never even learned their real identities.
Tann’s cruelty knew no bounds. If she considered an infant “too weak,” the baby might be left out in the sun to perish. If a child had a disability or was “too ugly” or “old,” Tann had people get rid of them.
Many were buried on the property of the Children’s Home Society, although around 20 children were buried in unmarked graves at Elmwood Cemetery in Memphis.
In 1950, Tann’s activities started coming to light, thanks to newly elected Tennessee Governor Gordon Browning.
An in-depth investigation revealed the extent of her crimes. Unfortunately, Tann was never brought to justice. She died after slipping into a coma from untreated uterine cancer.
The scandal contributed to reforms in adoption practices and child welfare laws. Efforts were made to reunite children with their biological families, but the excessive tampering of records left many still separated.
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