In the 1950's and 1960's, Dr. Thomas Jugarthy Hicks made a name for himself performing illegal abortions in Georgia. They were all corrupt! You made your decision. Blasio says she continues to check out the leads shes received as a result of the series, but admits its sometimes difficult with a full-time job and now has other Hicks Babies helping her. Dr Hicks told some of the mothers that their babies died, then he sold them. Since the undercover operation was exposed, many Hicks Babies have desperately searched for their biological families, yet decades later, are still looking for their birth parents. News, TLC Shows. (Photo by Benjo Arwas/Contour by Getty Images)Contour by Getty Images. My parents were young and married and wanted their first son! The reason I am writing is this. You got a problem with that? TLC recently aired a very long 3 part documentary series on the Hicks Babies who were adopted out. I mean no disrespect towards anyone. Im sure there are also many, many Hicks babies out there that have no idea they are Hicks babies. I used AncestryDNA to solve all of the Hicks cases I worked on. Over the past six months, half a dozen cases turned out to be false leads. I agree totally with you.This all sounds awful. Together, they set off on a journey to solve a decades-old mystery, reunite birth families and ultimately help them find closure, acceptance and truth. Learn how three Hicks babies were able to find biological family using DNA. June 12, 2021 by Trisha Faulkner 2 Comments. There are always three sides to any story: One side, the other side, and the truth (which is usually somewhere in between). He died in 1972 at age 83, which was 25 years before the shocking story of his black market baby ring came to light. My Grandma has been gone several years now, but she told us numerous times that in 1952 when she gave birth to my aunt that she remembers having two babies and the nurse telling her she had a boy. In 1947, Joan Crawford adopted twins, Cathy and Cindy, from Tann. Once the babies were born, Hicks contacted prospective adoptive parents and told them he had a baby. THIS POOR WOMAN THOUGHT HER TWIN BOYS HAD DIED. 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. My Mama and Dad were married and biological parents to my brother. An expert in illegal adoption, she helped unravel the mystery of the Hicks Clinic, breaking the story in 1997. The good Dr told the mother they were still born. You arent responsible for their sins. His birth certificate when he ent into the service was different than the one his parents had, so all I know its June 19 or 20, 1941. Over the course of three episodes, Taken at Birth follows Blasio on her quest to find the truth about the notorious doctor, who died in 1972. Starring: Jane BlasioLisa JoynerChris Jacobs. What makes the story even more tragic is the first baby was actually a set of twins. Robert Hicks Story | Full Movie | Hannah Jones | Robert HicksBorn tongue-tied and dyslexic and suffering at the hands of abusive parents, Robert Hicks seemed. When you visit this site, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. Dr. Hicks' granddaughter also strongly implied that, in some cases, Dr. Hicks himself was the father of the "Hicks babies" in question. Children disappeared from yards, porches, little shack homes. Absolutely horrifying!!!!! After completing his doctoral studies, he decided to start "ScienceOxygen" as a way to share his passion for science with others and to provide an accessible and engaging resource for those interested in learning about the latest scientific discoveries. i just hope i wont go made like them. Ignorance is a terrible thing smh!!!! we do not know where these births occured most of our family is deceased. As a child, she recalled, her curiosity was first piqued when a relative called her a "black-market" baby. In the small town of McCaysville, Ga., Dr. 23andMe is on sale right now, so its a good time to buy. Dr. Hicks told the first Hicks babys mother that the baby died. 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. He was married and had two children, a son and a daughter. He then relocated just across the line in McCaysville Georgia. One of the Hicks Babies, Melinda Dawson, told CBS that her adoptive parents paid $1,000 for her in 1962. Here's everything you should know about Thomas J. Hicks and his black market business before tuning in to the three-night, six-hour event debuting Oct. 9. What people dont realize is Doc Hicks started his practice in Tennessee. Or, you can stream the docuseries via discovery+. In the mid-1940s, Dr. Thomas Jugarthy Hicks opened the Hicks Community Clinic in the small town of McCaysville, Georgia, mere steps from the Tennessee state line. I submitted my DNA in hopes that I might find my brother or some of his family. My mother/father picked me up from a nurse in a hotel in 1967. She took Jacks fathers last name, Hollinsworth, so that people would think she was a widow, instead of having had a child out of wedlock. HE WAS A HORRIBLE MAN, JUST HORRIBLE!!! Dr Hicks quickly hushed the nurse and gave my grandma something to make her sleep. He also delivered the babies early, between 31 & 34 wks causing them to have low birthweight and health issues. Copyright 2023 The DNA Geek Ascension WordPress theme by, Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), New TLC Special Taken At Birth Dives into Shocking Hicks Babies Black Market Adoption Scandal, Babies For Sale: The Secret Adoptions That Haunt One Georgia Town, Hicks Baby Adoptee Sold by Georgia Doctor 50 Years Ago Reunites With Birth Mother, Brother, Busted not for selling babies, but for the abortion clinic, 23andMe Introduces the Automated Family Tree , The Hicks Babies The DNA Geek | Ups and Downs of Family History V2.0, https://thednageek.com/how-to-transfer-your-ancestrydna-test-to-other-databases/, Up Your DNA Game With New Courses in 2023, Verogen Increases Costs for Law Enforcement Again, A Board of Certification for Investigative Genetic Genealogy Is Announced. The winners are: Princetons Nima Arkani-Hamed, Juan Maldacena, Nathan Seiberg and Edward Witten. His family did not live like they had money in fact most of his money appeared to be put right back into the town of McKaysville into businesses which kept folks employed and kept the town thriving. Actually, Hicks lost his medical license for the abortion clinic but never got charged for selling the babies. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. With the advent of commercially available DNA testing, about 30 Hicks babies descended on the town in 2014 hoping to find their birth families. He took HUGE risks for essentially very little in return, in fact he did lose his medical license in 1964 for performing an abortion. (Silver Spring, MD) - 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. Were it not for him encouraging these women to have their babies, these children would have never been given a chance at life. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Just keeping an RN on duty, even in the 1950s -60s, was a big expense. Hicks surrendered his medical license in 1964 for performing an illegal abortion. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. Since the documentary became available to stream on Hulu, fans have been taking to Twitter to share their reactions. As Charlotte Chandler writes in her biography of Crawford, Not the Girl Next Door, Crawford was unable to have kids, so she adopted five: a girl, Christina, in 1940; a boy, Christopher, in 1942, who was reclaimed by his birth mother soon after; a second boy, also named Christopher, in 1943; and twin girls, Catherine ( . Blasio was one of about 200 infants placed in an illegal black-market baby ring run out of a small Georgia clinic by Dr. Thomas J. Hicks during the 1950s and 1960s. He reportedly performed abortions, which were illegal at the time, for $100. As a result, he could not provide information that would help the babies find their parents or the other way around. It is suspected that many of them did and there is rumor that perhaps he disposed of those little bodies in the river. Dr. Hicks died of leukemia in 1972 at the age of 83. As far as they know the first baby that was adopted out was a twin. In 1997, the shocking news story broke, revealing that Hicks was alleged to have spearheaded a black-market baby ring out of his clinic, denying over hundreds of babies their true identities and biological families. Apparently these women were seeking abortions, not babies. TLC presents Taken At Birth, a three-night television event coming October 9th at 9/8c. That is when my older brother was born and my mother was told he was still born even though she told me she heard her baby cry. I can promise you this, if theres a hell, he is in the front row seat! My heart aches for your mother and your whole family. Such an evil man to cause such heart ache! We can tell ourselves stories, and they become our truths. The investigation led her to McCaysville, Georgia, a small southern town she discovered the disturbing truth. An investigative team looks into the mysteries behind the case of Dr. Thomas Hicks, who sold babies illegally from his clinic in the 1950s and 1960s, as the "Hicks Babies" begin to reunite to search for answers. We will never know the hell they have suffered. PS Ancestry DNA is a crook. Unless you were one of the babies there is no way you could know what its like to have this to happen to you. They did have several that admitted they went in for an abortion Im sure the guy was no saint, but i think he was saving these babies. She did NOT go to him for an abortion, she went to deliver MY BROTHER. I dont like things to go unanswered.. As Taken At Birthprogresses, we learn that Dr. Hicks helped some pretty prominent people get rid of a baby that was a mistake. can you imagine waking up one day to find out accidently that you were adopted and come to find out through this show or other means that your wife is your sister or first cousin? My parents were a young married couple and very much wanted their baby! ALL OF THOSE CHILDREN WERE MESSED UP FROM THIS. According to the neonatalogist interviewed in the show many other babies must have died. Its unbelievable. Being a private investigator, she admits that shes spent decades trying to uncover the truth. She has since reconnected with extended family members. In the 1950s and 1960s, Dr. Thomas Hicks (1888-1972) sold over 200 babies. Hicks' wife and son had already passed away. 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. I hope your brother decides to test someday. Thats crazy, Blasio thought when she realized there were more people in Akron like her who came from Dr. Hicks clinic. Before Doctor Hicks opened his practice in Georgia he was just across the state line in Polk County Tennessee in the 1930s. What if, you are a scared young woman, 16 or 17 or even 19, pregnant in rural GA or TN, shame ridden as some would have felt, just wanting this to be taken care of. Yes, thats a horrible thought. And most of these women were likely unmarried, which was a huge no-no at the time. So many of the women were told their babies had died. Holy smokes! So telling a mother that her baby died at birth while he sold it out his back door was fine with you? Are there also a bunch of babies that were sold out of the clinic in Chattanooga as well? Later, as a teenager, she . 23andMe is on sale right now. Georgia will not release the record to me. There is no evidence that any of the babies that were adopted through the actions of Dr. Hicks are related to him. If shes still alive and knows shes adopted, she may be looking for you using DNA. These babies were born between 3.5 and 4.75 lbs.. very unfavorable!! My YDNA indicates I am not Hicks. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The series tells the story of a man that stole over 200 babies and sold them on the black market. Babies came to the mountains with him and babies left the mountains with him. To this day, Blasio hasnt been able to locate the boy. Interlaced with the long overdue reunions, is Jane, Lisa, and Chris searching for answers that have haunted the Hicks Babies for years. As an infant, Dawson was . The story of Dr. At least 49 of the babies were sold to parents in the Akron, Ohio area. Some on here commented that the bio moms were likely unwed and didnt want the babies. With that said, what we know, sounds evil, but that is based on times being much different. People, accessed 17 September 2019. One woman may have even worked at the clinic at one time. In 1997, the shocking news story broke, revealing that . Now AncestryDNA and Nightline have helped Kristie find the family she was taken from 51 years ago.. Documentary 2019. At the same time things are being uncovered that people thought were buried. In the small town of McCaysville, Ga., Dr. Hicks would illegally perform abortions. All in all, I cannot condemn him. He did not have any choice but to lie on the birth certificates. Dr Hicks sold over 200 babies from his clinic in McCaysville during the 50s and 60s Credit: YouTube. You saw it. I dont know the truth, the people involved back THEN know. He died in 1972 at age 83, having never been held accountable for these black market babies. How many women died themselves never knowing that they had a child or children out there and how many children, now adults, will never know their biological parents because its just too late and most of them have passed? Sharing emotional family journeys is a part of TLCs DNA and we are proud to tell the profound stories of loss, hope and reunion that make up TAKEN AT BIRTH, said TLC President and General Manager Howard Lee. Hicks lied, blatantly, to some of these women, hell probably 90% of them. Throughout the journey, they experience epic reunions and devastating disappointments, encounter unexpected twists and turns, and break through old barriers to uncovernew evidence that may finally provide the truth for many Hicks Babies, and that could help the search for others moving forward. He would sell the babies to parents who wanted to adopt but couldnt afford to do so legally. 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