Between 1924 and 1950, Memphis orphanage director Georgia Tann arranged thousands of adoptions, all motivated by
status and money. She did not work alone, but had the help of many influential citizens, including the corrupt
Memphis politician, Mayor Edward Hull Crump, who helped her sidestep many laws. Others involved in these
unethical adoptions included social workers, judges, and attorneys.
There’s no doubt that Georgia’s methods were corrupt. She literally kidnapped children from their parents or
obtained them through lies and false promises, then falsified birth certificates. Some of the children she
obtained died in boarding homes. A few were placed with pedophiles or with families who treated them like slaves.
Most of the lucky ones found loving homes with middle class families and occasionally with the rich and famous,
including Joan Crawford and June Allyson.
The Baby Thief is the story of countless families torn apart by a woman’s greed. Although most of
Georgia Tann’s clients are now dead, it is clear Ms. Raymond had some difficultly in obtaining information from
sources who worked with Georgia, many of whom feared losing the children they adopted, or feared retribution for
their acts.
The interviews Ms. Raymond conducted with parents who lost their children, and children searching for siblings
touched her deeply: heart-wrenching true stories of mothers and fathers who searched fruitlessly for their stolen
children; of brothers and sisters frustrated by their inability to obtain records or information on their siblings
or parents. And despite her atrocities, Georgia’s legacy lives on in falsified birth certificates and adoption
records sealed by various states.
The Baby Thief is the spellbinding biography of Georgia Tann, a headstrong tyrant who exploited women
in order to steal their children to make money. It’s an absorbing history of how society viewed homeless children
and unwed mothers, of the socio-economic conditions that allowed Georgia to flourish, and a fact-based chronicle
of the history of adoption in the United States.
Like the author, I have adopted children, and found the background on adoption fascinating. The Baby Thief
is an absorbing, excellent biography, and a must-read for anyone touched by or involved in the adoption process.