Georgia Tann's Black-Market Adoption Scheme Sold Over 5,000 Children Between 1924 and 1950
Between 1924 and 1950, Georgia Tann ran an illicit adoption ring at the Memphis location of the Tennessee Children's Home Society (TCHS), facilitating the placement of over 5,000 children into affluent households. With the help of corrupt officials like E.H. "Boss Crump," she kidnapped children and created fraudulent birth certificates, resulting in an estimated 500 fatalities under her supervision. Parents were deceived regarding their children's outcomes. Among her notable clientele were actress Joan Crawford and former New York Governor Herbert Lehman. In 1941, the Child Welfare League retracted its support. Following the decline of the Crump political machine, a state investigation was initiated in September 1950, but Tann passed away shortly thereafter. The TCHS shut down by December 1950, with no criminal charges brought against anyone.
Key facts
- Georgia Tann led the Memphis branch of the Tennessee Children's Home Society (TCHS) from 1924 to 1950
- Tann sold more than 5,000 children to wealthy families across the U.S. through an illegal black-market adoption business
- TCHS was authorized only to place children in foster care, not to arrange adoptions
- An estimated 500 children died in Tann's care
- Tann amassed an estimated $1 million (nearly $14 million today) through the scheme
- Actress Joan Crawford adopted twin daughters through Tann in 1947
- The Child Welfare League of America withdrew its endorsement of the Memphis branch in 1941
- Tennessee Governor Gordon Browning announced a state investigation into TCHS in September 1950; Tann died of uterine cancer days later at age 59
- No one was ever criminally charged in the scheme
- A 1951 Tennessee law placed state adoption records under seal
Entities
Artists
- Georgia Tann
- Sue Nell Dycus
- Sallie Brandon
- Barbara Bisantz Raymond
- Lisa Wingate
- Judy Christie
- E.H. Crump
- Camille Kelley
- Mary Reed
- Peggy Koenitzer
- Norma Sue
- Thomas Jugarthy Hicks
- Gabrielle Glaser
- Joan Crawford
- June Allyson
- Dick Powell
- Herbert Lehman
- Eleanor Roosevelt
- Harry S. Truman
- Gordon Browning
- Estes Kefauver
- Allison Peacock
- Jordan Friedman
- Cathy Crawford
- Cindy Crawford
Institutions
- Tennessee Children's Home Society
- Mississippi Children's Home-Finding Society
- Child Welfare League of America
- The Commercial Appeal
- ZUMA Press
- New York Foundling Hospital
- FHD Forensics
- Genealogy for Justice
- Smithsonian Magazine
- 60 Minutes
- Unsolved Mysteries
- Atlanta Journal-Constitution
- Newspapers.com
- Tennessean
Locations
- Memphis
- United States
- Tiptonville
- Tennessee
- Huntsville
- Alabama
- Mississippi
- Texas
- Shelby County
- California
- New York
- New Jersey
- Philadelphia
- Pulaski
- Key West
- Florida
- Georgia
- Colorado
- Iowa
- Minnesota
- New Mexico
- Washington
- New York City
- Mississippi River
- Chicago