Taken at Birth, TLC's six-part, three-night special revisits the case of Dr. Thomas J. Hicks, a who sold and/or gave away more than 200 newborn infants between the 1950s and 1960s. This lucrative, black-market baby operation was the work of Dr. Thomas Hicks, an abortion doctor well-known for being able to fix female problems for about $100. As a result of her profile, more than 200 "Hicks babies" came forward. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. '", Ana Navarro Jokes About Sara Haines' White House Correspondents' Dinner Antics on 'The View': "Maybe There Will Be a Restraining Order", Sunny Hostin Opens Up About Receiving Hurtful Emails on The View: Im Not Liked By Half The Country, Sunny Hostin Shades Meghan McCain for Scathing Column About 'The View': "Our Show Is a Wonderful Place". By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. Taken at Birth airs on TLC October 9-11 from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET/PT. In 2015, it was evenrevealed that some "black market babies" were sold for as little as $100 around the same time as Dr. Hicks was performing illegal abortions. Over three nights this October, TLC's TAKEN AT BIRTH will share the untold stories of the "Hicks Babies," the name given to more than 200 newborn babies illegally sold or given away from the back steps of a small-town Georgia clinic run by Dr. Thomas J. Hicks during the 1950s and 1960s. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, Fri Oct 11, 2019 at 12:37pm ET. Jane and Lisa share the news about the exhumation with a group of Hicks Babies that have questioned whether Dr. Hicks was in fact their biological father. I believe that he was calling them before some of these babies were born, inducing labor and handing these fragile preterm infants over in exchange for what in todays prices would be around $7500.00. Blasio's father was a police officer who "knew right from wrong," though he eventually got his first felony. Taken at Birth. Unfortunately, Taken At Birth isnt available on Netflix. Even today, in 2020, we still have a long way to go when it comes to making social strides for women's benefit. This is crazy news. Jane Blasio, Chris Jacobs and Lisa Joyner: Who are the Taken at Birth or redistributed. The more she dug into the life of Dr. Hicks, the more dark secrets she uncovered. Jane Blasio was one of those babies. Another new title that streamers seem to be excited about is TLCs Taken At Birth. Sallie & the Hicks babies learn the DNA results. In the series, the victims, dubbed Hicks Babies, team up with a group of investigators to search for answers. Just saying. This testimony is borne out by another story that focuses on John Stapleton, another "Hicks Baby." On her journey to discover the truth about her adoption and birth parents, "the facade" of her life kept more complicated, she said. ANew York Timesprofile ofBlasio appeared in 1997, which was around the same time she blew the whistle on Dr. Thomas Hicks. Editor's Note: This article was originally posted on October 11, 2019 and was updated with the latest information. As a result, illegal abortions were common. allpass_containerRequests.push([jQuery("#allpass_container0"), "Wide", null, null]); (214) 2019 13+. ), RELATED:Meet The 9-Kid, No-Technology Plath Family Featured In New TLC Show 'Welcome To Plathville'. Stream now on discovery+. (Silver Spring, MD) Over three nights thisOctober, TLCsTAKEN AT BIRTHwill share the untold stories of the Hicks Babies, the name given to more than 200 newborn babies illegallysoldor given away from the back steps of a small-town Georgia clinic run by Dr. Thomas J. Hicks during the 1950s and 1960s. The show taps into a quagmire familiar to generations of newly-betrothed ladies: Theyre dreaming of dress shopping when mom/sister/bestie sidles up with dewy eyes and offers her own (often outdated) gown for the occasion. Jeremiah 1:5, Featured Image Credit: Youtube/Daily Blast LIVE, if (false && typeof(allpass_containerRequests) !== "undefined") { The documentary, which aired on TLC last fall, premiered on Hulu this month, introducing the riveting and emotional story of the. Well, Sally is exhuming her father, Dr. Hicks' son's body to pull DNA to see if we can confirm, you know, Dr. Hicks being the father of one or more people in this group. Dr. Lee in the series stated this may have put their gestational age at 31-32 weeks. Look up the 1962 case of State vs Faye Wasserman. ABC/Tony Rivetti 2016 American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Its not always perfect, not always wonderful; it is restoration, Blasiosaid. When you visit this site, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. To aidin the search, she enlists TLCsLONG LOST FAMILYco-hosts Lisa Joyner and Chris Jacobs, hoping their investigative skills and experience reuniting families, combined with the benefit of todays advanced technology, will finally provide results. First of all, several people who lived in McCaysville moved to Akron to work in the booming rubber industry. Lysol was, in fact, the most popular birth control method during the Great Depression in the United States and it bears noting that the formula on the market, back then, wasfarmore acidic than it is today because it contained cresol, or, the main ingredient in photographic developers and explosives. (Ain't that some bull!) Blasio went on to tell hosts Lisa Joyner and Chris Jacobs best known for their work onLong Lost Family that her father, who was a former police officer,knew that something was shady about it all, but kept his mouth shut. Plus, Chris makes another discovery about Dr. Hicks. See additional information. Mother Joneswent a step further and noted that, until Roe v. Wade, women used Lysol, among other awful methods, as an abortifacient. We want to help these people. Lead investigator Jane Blasio is joined by Lisa Joyner and Chris Jacobs to find closure for those stolen babies. The charges against him were dropped, and he continued practicing medicine for a while before his death in 1972 at 83-years-old. I know a lot of people I could connect you with who might know names of women who went to the clinic. Investigation journalism at its best. Her adoptive parents went to the back of Hicks clinic, where they were handed baby Jane with dried blood on her not knowing if she would survive. I also did notice that is was poorly done, we seen a lot of the same thing over and over, and we seen a lot of trees, water, road and sky in between things that happened to take up space. Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. An exclusive clip is above. Some participants in the special suggested that the authorities not only looked the other waywhile these black market adoptions were taking place, but some were also actively participating in the illegal adoptions. RELATED: Grandma Kept Family Secret 35 Years Hoping Her Parents Would Tell Her, My parents bought a child in a way that gave me no option but to search and possibly find no answers, she says. }, if (typeof(allpass_containerRequests) !== 'undefined') { allpass_containerRequests.push([jQuery('#allpass_container10'), 'Narrow', null, null]); }, Lonely Hurts, But God Can Redeem It Encouragement for Today May 1, 2023, How God Uses Your Weakness for His Glory Senior Living May 1, 80s Movie Star Left Hollywood To Raise A Family But Now Hes Ready To Chase His Dream Again, Grandma Learns the Sinister Story About Her Abduction 40 Years Ago, Grandma Kept Family Secret 35 Years Hoping Her Parents Would Tell Her, Twin Sisters' DNA Test Results Uncover a Dark Family Mystery Involving Their Dad's True Identity, Florida Issues Birth Certificates For Parents Grieving Miscarriages, Adopted Sons See Their Parents After 3 Long Years, Parents Write Thank You Letters To Children's Step Parents, Missionary Family Flies Home For Christmas To Surprise Their Family, Grieving Parents Share Photos Of Their Baby Who Died At Birth, Struggling Family Gets Christmas Surprise From Ellen, 'I Had Pasta Tonight' Is A Secret Code On TikTok Parents And Grandparents Need To Know About, Doctors Operate on Partially-Born Baby with Birth Defect As Parents Hold out Hope for Tiny 'Fighter', Family Surprises Bride And Groom With Flashmob, California Do Not Sell My Personal Information. FLORIDA 19-YEAR-OLD WAITED 6 YEARS TO BE ADOPTED BY FORMER CASE WORKER. Dr. Hicks found a way to play God delivering preterm babies and selling them before they could pass away. Word of mouth was enough to garner him a steady stream of interested clients. And so she went ahead and she perused the birth certificates that he was taking to the county registrar back in the 50s and 60s, and found that there were an estimated 200-plus babies that had gone to Akron, Ohio, from the Hicks Clinic., Two hundred?, she says. Pic credit: TLC. Research has hinged on doctored birth certificates linked to Hicks Clinic, personal accounts, DNA results, photos and other items. The fraudulent adoptions were carried out behind closed doors and without any official paperwork, which is what led Blasio to question her birth certificate as a teenager. "This story isnt just about me. Mausoleum Break-In. The three-part TLC special that premiered in 2019, Taken At Birth, documented the shocking case of Dr. Thomas Hicks, a doctor who according to the special sold hundreds of babies out of. At least it didn't matter to Jane then. Remember: at the height of Dr. Hicks' black market practice, abortion was illegalin the United States. So many were illegally adopted, the courts decided to not place them back w/their biological parents and their adoption files were sealed. The six-part, three-night special revisits the case of Dr. Thomas J. Hicks, who sold or gave away more than 200 infants from the '40s to the '60s. "Taken at Birth" book cover (Credit: Jane Blasio). 20,835, This story has been shared 13,172 times. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Please look into the butter box babies. I have a sister and three brothers on that side., But with knowledge also comes some closure. Stream It Or Skip It: 'White House Plumbers' On HBO, A Comedic Take On The Bumbling Team Behind The Watergate Break-In, Stream It Or Skip It: Kiss, Kiss! on Netflix, a Polish Rom-Com With an Oogy Womanizer Protagonist. I wish you would rerun the show. 2023byTango Publishing Corporation All Rights Reserved. In fact, the woman who cracked the case, Jane Blasio, was from Akron. TAKEN AT BIRTH How Dr. Hicks sold over 200 children on the black market in small-town Georgia Violeta Idyll June 14, 2021 True Crime In the 1950s and 60s a small-town Georgia family doctor. Law enforcement turned a blind eye to what Hicks was doing at the time, letting him get away with trafficking newborns for years, Blasio, now a federal law enforcement officer, said. The program originally premiered back in October 2019 on TLC and TLC.com, which is now streaming all three episodes. Audrey Conklin is a digital reporter for Fox News Digital and FOX Business. Will there be another season of Taken At Birth? Others were given away at birth as their desperate, dirt-poor mothers simply couldnt afford another mouth to feed. TLCs 2019 special consists of three episodes. A Heartbreaking Story of Hundreds of Illegally Sold Babies. However, its important to point out that season one only covered a few of the hundreds of Hicks Babies cases. Taken At Birth will share the untold stories of the "Hicks Babies," the name given to more than 200 newborn babies illegally sold or given away from the back steps of a small-town Georgia clinic run by Dr. Thomas J. Hicks during the 1950s and 1960s. And, as recently as 2017, it was revealed that many international adoptions are done "on the black market," particularly in countries like Guatemala, where abject poverty forces people to do the unthinkable. 5,747, This story has been shared 5,315 times. How did Dr. Thomas Hicks run this black market operation? The final segment of Taken at Birthairedon Friday, October 11th, 2019 on TLC. The answers are surprising. Blasio wanted to find out what happened before she was adopted. For over 50 years this small town has been hiding a shocking secret. You May Also Like; Taken At Birth. All rights reserved. TLC's 'Taken at Birth' Investigates Black Market Adoption Ring That Illegally Placed 200 Babies. He lied and proceeded to sell the newborns for around $800 to $1,000 on the black market. There is another leg to this Baby/abortion market in another town in North Carolina not far from the Hicks Clinic. It's a six-hour documentary special that's broken into three separate episodes. Blasio blew the whistle back in the 1990s. Meet The Doctor Behind 'My 600-Lb' Life: Who Is Dr. Nowzaradan AKA Dr. Now? In all, hundreds of babies were born and illegally sold out of Hicks Community Clinic in McCaysville, Ga., in the early 1950s to mid 1960s, their real identities completely erased. 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Standing between Jane, Lisa, and Chris and the truth are long-since buried secrets, and without any known medical records, they have their work cut out for them. Some thought their babies died at birth; others had no idea they even existed. One of those peddled babies was Blasio, author of the new book "Taken at Birth," released earlier this week. Were there more than that? Is 'Are You There God? The body of Dr. Hicks' son is exhumed and his extracted DNA helps crack the case. Blasios journey to find other Hicks babies and help them find information about their birth parents is told in the TLC three-night series Taken at Birth (Oct. 9-11 at 9pm ET/PT). I know this was not the case of all of the mothers stories that were known. This story has been shared 40,131 times. A father of three who was married to a Baptist Sunday school teacher, Hicks died at age 83 in 1972, long before Blasios digging led to the first headlines about the scandal in 1997. TLC - Miss #TakenAtBirth? Watch all three episodes here or - Facebook 7.5 /10 Rate Browse episodes Top-rated 1 Season 2019 Videos 1 Trailer 2:02 Watch Taken At Birth Photos Add photo Top cast Edit Lisa Joyner Self But the couple who raised her, Joan and James Walters, of Akron, Ohio, were falsely listed as birth parents to both Blasio and her older sister, Michelle, who also came from the same Georgia clinic. And the monumental question thats been looming over the Hicks Babies community for years:Were any of them biological children of Hicks himself? Find Us; Watch; Tv Guide; . Dr. Thomas J. Hicks of the Hicks Clinic located in McCaysville, along the border of Tennessee sold scores of babies between the 1940s and 1960s, authorities have determined. Hicks' illegal. RELATED: Grandma Learns the Sinister Story About Her Abduction 40 Years Ago. Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations. My mother is alive, but she is denying that she had me, she shared. Although Dr. Hicks got his supply of babies from advertising to pregnant women in distress, he did not have to advertise that he was selling babies. And, in that final segment, the ramifications were shown of how DNA helped the so-called "Hicks Babies" find their families and their truth. I had it set up to dvr and got 4 episodes. What Is 'taken At Birth'? After watching the series I am left to wonder if some of the mothers who came to the clinic for abortions left believing that had received an abortion. It wasnt the illegal adoptions that got Dr. Hicks in hot water, it was the illegal abortions. The demand was so high, that Dr. Hicks didnt allow his clients to be choosy, and they had to be quick as well. According to ABC News, Dr. Hicks convinced a few of these young moms to keep the babies and put them up in a hotel in town until they gave birth. This would be the time it would be almost impossible to hide a pregnancy. Abortion is legaltoday (though whether that remains to be true depends on that weird Supreme Court we have right now), but black markets for babies still exist in the United States. Born in 1965 at a clinic operated by Thomas Jugarthy Hicks in a small town in northern Georgia, Jane, a prematurely born baby, was sold, not legally adopted, and passed through the back door of the clinic to the couple whom she grew up believing were her birth parents. For nearly three decades, Hicks sold as many as 200 babies to local and out-of-state couples who didn't have the time or money for legal adoptions, for prices ranging from $100 to thousands of dollars. "That was a point of contention from the time I was old enough to understand what he had done.". 'Taken at Birth' Season 2 on Hulu? What We Know About the Documentary Finale | Taken At Birth | Could DNA hold the answers? Find - Facebook Dr. Phil McGraw presents a three-part interview with JonBents now 29 year-old brother, Burke. Dr. Hicks served as a town doctor in McCaysville, Ga., and was known for performing abortions, which were illegal at the time. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your device and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. Here's What Happened to 'Taken at Birth' Doctor Thomas Hicks - Distractify Copyright 2005-2023, Christian Reformed Church in North America. Interlaced with the long overdue reunions, is Jane, Lisa, and Chris searching for answers that have haunted the Hicks Babies for years. By what name was Taken at Birth (2019) officially released in India in English? Will There Be A 'Taken At Birth' Season 2? - Decider Its believed that one of the people who moved because of this had once worked at the clinic, and would refer people who wanted to adopt children to Dr. Hicks clinic in Georgia. Though Blasio didnt understand the full meaning of the circumstances surrounding her birth, she had a sense that something was off. Wednesday, Oct. 9: A Decades-Old Mystery Revisited in TLCs Taken at Birth, Nearly 2o years after the Christmastime murder of 6-year-old beauty queen JonBent Ramsey, several new TV specials re-examine the cold case and try to solve the case that horrified and captivated a nation. Before her mother Joan died, Joan begged her husband Jim to tell the girls everything. A three-part documentary, Taken at Birth, follows the story of Dr. Thomas Hicks who illegally arranged black market adoptions for nearly 200 babies, known as "Hicks Babies," in the '50s and '60s. Taken At Birth was billed as a three-night/six-hour special event. As of now, theres no fourth episode of Taken At Birth. 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