95: Georgia Tann: Pedophile, Kidnapper & Inventor of Modern Adoption

In 1926, a woman named Georgia Tann began running the Memphis branch of the Tennessee Children’s Home Society. Soon, Georgia began selling babies and children on the black market, often out of state. And as demand for children grew, she began kidnapping infants and even older children. While she is dubiously credited with normalizing adoption at a time that it was stigmatized, her real legacy is creating closed adoptions. She also left a legacy of horrific physical, emotional and sexual abuse of the children in her care.

Written, hosted and produced by Erica Kelley
Original Graphic Art by Coley Horner
Original Music by Rob Harrison of Gamma Radio
Researched by Erica Kelley, Haley Gray
Edited by Chaes Gray
Case Suggestion by: Mallory Kemp
Suggested Reading: The Baby Thief by Barbara Raymond

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