Black Market Adoptions Of Babies

I found this article in the Google Archive. It was written in 2000 and deals with the stolen or sold babies of the 1950+

Tiffany Stasi case a doorway to world of black-market adoptions

By DONNA McGUIRE - The Kansas City Star
Date: 08/09/00 22:15

Durham
Carla Varisco/Special to The Star

Susan Durham, a former Kansan who lives in Delaware, was about 30 when she discovered that her adoptive parents had hidden unorthodox aspects of her adoption.
Susan Durham grew up thinking she was born in Phillipsburg, Kan., a small town 60 miles north of Hays. At least that's what her birth certificate said.

But later she learned that wasn't true.

Joe Soll, who lives north of New York City, grew up thinking his birth parents had died in a car crash. At least that's what his adoptive parents told him.

That wasn't true, either.

Both Durham and Soll consider themselves former black-market babies -- people whose adoptions were, in one way or another, illegal.

They can relate to the teen-ager whom Kansas Citians know as Tiffany Stasi. According to Johnson County prosecutors, Tiffany's adoption as an infant 15 years ago not only was illegal but also was facilitated by a man who allegedly killed her mother, Lisa. The adoption paperwork, prosecutors said, was falsified. They have found no evidence an attorney was involved.

EDITED BY DP DUE TO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT. SEE LINK FOR ARTICLE


To reach Donna McGuire, social services reporter for The Star, call (816) 234-4393 or send e-mail to dmcguire@kcstar.com

For more information, visit Susan Durham's Black Market Adoptee's Registry at www.geocities.com/Heartland/Garden/2313/index.htm

http://registry.adoption.com/records/6749.html
October 26, 1970 - Male
MAY BE ILLEGAL ADOPTION, LAWER CLAIMS TO HAVE NO RECORDS. PARENTS WERE ALLEGED TO BE SON OF PROMINANT BILOXI CITIZEN. FATHER MAY HAVE BEEN IN AIR FORCE. MOTHER MAY HAVE DARK HAIR.


http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Lake/5803/bessie.html
Convicted of selling babies on the black market from 1940s to 1970s
Bessie Bernard/Elizabeth Weiner

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Garden/1903/geobook.html
Lots of stories of people who were sold and people who had their children stolen from them.


http://registry.adoption.com/records/192198.html
December 10, 197 Hell. MMy name is James, and I this story I have told a thousand times, in the hopes of helping my wife bring to some sort of closure a very painful and difficult part of her life. To some, it might not that important. To her, however, it means everything II solicit your prayers as well as your help in this matter.

MMy wife is looking for her birthmom.We do not have her name. All we have is a spattering of an account that was told to us by her father. A reluctant account, which has only been discussed out loud maybe 3 or 4 times in her life. Even then, it was done out of anger, and so the accounts have varied, which only adds to our confusion WWe only have my wife’s her birthdate November 18, 1970, and a location sort of Bisbee, Douglas, or Yuma Arizona.depending on which story you listen too.

HHer dad is a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal A.M.E. Church. He was married at the time, but had recently separated from his wife. She returned to her hometown in Salt Lake City, Utah. He was 26 years old at the time, and a pastor of a small church in Douglas, AZ.

The story goes that he met a young waitress. We don’t know her race for sure. One account says that she was Mexican, another says she was Mexican/White, and another says she was White. He had a sexual encounter with this girl who looked 26 or 27.but she was only 16 or 1. SShe became pregnant, and that was the beginning of the life of my wife SShe gave the baby up for adoption.put her in foster care.she was white or should we say non-black.he was black.and mom and dad werent having any of that.so that was that MMeanwhile, his wife returns.they patch things up, and because she cannot bare children, they decide to adopt.

Of course he suggests it, knowing that his kid my wife is up for adoption. He has since gone home and explained the situation with his father. His dad suggests that he wouldn’t really be a man, unless he went back and got his child. He did just that. However, he relied on the fact that his wife was barren, and wanted a child of her own. So what better way to to kill two birds with one stone, than to adopt the child that was your own. He did just that, without his wife ever knowing.

We believe the adoption was illegal, because the birth cirtificate was re-done somehow to have his wifes name on it. It listed a Parkview Baptist Hospital, a hospital which apparently no longer exists or never existed, since nobody seems to have heard of it in Yuma. Oh yes, supposedly this was the locale of her birth according to the birth cirtificate FFor 5 years his wife didnt know that the baby was actually her husbands child from another relationship.

For whatever reason, he finally spills the beans. By this time they are living in Jefferson City, MO. And the real mom is long gone MMrs. Wife reacts violently toward my wife and actually begins to abuse her over the years. She ends up throwing this little kid through a patio glass window, after she cried to go with her daddy out the door. She lied about the abuse, and ended up blaming the dad after neighbors and sitters began questioning the bruises and cuts on this little girl. They end up arresting the dad in the pulpit of his church. This causes him to begin to be a bit more protective than he was in the past. Fights insued.and that was the end of that marraige

TThey real dad and clueless wife end up divorcing, and he eventually remarries and raises my wife with yet and still another woman. THIS IS NOT MADE UP. aanyways.after a really stormy entrance into this world.my wife was a run-away, teen mom herselfe, and she really wants to find her birthmom. This would provide her with so many answers as to who she is as a person, and where she is goin. .but we havent been able to get a name from her dad.who refuses to speak about it.

Can you give any direction.rumor has it that her mom lives in southern California, has since married, and has other children.We know that she might not want her dark past no pun intended revealed in light of this WWe are desperate and know that a name would help. We are believing that this mom might be searching for her lost daughter.we hop? RRegardless, thank you for your tim. JJames

From 1928 to 1960 "The Butterbox Babies" story deals with the owners of the Ideal Maternity Home which operated in Nova Scotia, Canada but did both legal, and illegal adoptions to U.S. Citizens. Many babies ended up in New York and New Jersey as well as other States.

http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/bhartlen/

Was this woman's baby stolen from a Santa Barbara hospital in 1968?

http://www.amfor.net/BabyTheft1968.html

Ponderthings,

I was doing some research awhile back and came across this website that has links to several of the known "Black Market" organizations. Lots of reading there!

http://www.adopting.org/adoptions/black-market-adoption-search-sites-adoption-2.html

Thanks for the link Shadow205 - you never know when it could come in very handy!

I did a post a couple of months ago on some babies who were stolen out of New York or New Jersey. One was taken from a hospital, one from a park I think. All were young, I believe under two. All were black. I will see if I can find the post.

mysteriew,

Are you talking about Shane Walker and Christopher Dansby? Here's the link:
http://charleyproject.org/cases/w/walker_shane.html

This child http://criminaljustice.state.ny.us/missing/info/136.htm was abducted from a Brooklyn hospital shortly after birth.

I don't know if these are the children you're talking about, but it rang a bell.

I have 3 current cases that I'm working on that is most likely kidnapped / black market babies. OFTEN Doctors are paid a HEFTY AMOUNT of money to tell the mother the baby died at birth. DID NOT HAVE TO BE single mother because at the time, fathers were not allowed in the birthing rooms.

They would sell this baby to the highest bidder. Apparently there is more than 19,000 cases / people that should STILL be alive and be victims of Black Market ABDUCTIONS (NOT ADOPTIONS).

blueclouds said:

I have 3 current cases that I'm working on that is most likely kidnapped / black market babies. OFTEN Doctors are paid a HEFTY AMOUNT of money to tell the mother the baby died at birth. DID NOT HAVE TO BE single mother because at the time, fathers were not allowed in the birthing rooms.

They would sell this baby to the highest bidder. Apparently there is more than 19,000 cases / people that should STILL be alive and be victims of Black Market ABDUCTIONS (NOT ADOPTIONS).

Click to expand...

This is absolutely mind boggling...

The issue of adoption - and all of its many laws, practices, and stories - is a fascinating one, but also it can be a very frustrating one for adoptees or birth parents who are searching.

The vast majority of adoptions in the United States are LEGAL ADOPTIONS. The whole adoption process is a legal proceeding. That said, there are many provisions IN THE LAWS of various states which allow for the things mentioned by other posters. The sealing of origional birth records and the re-issuance of birth certificates with the new adoptive parents names on them is standard legal practice in all of the states. Changing the baby's/ child's name is often done. Even changing the date of birth or the place of birth can be done legally in many cases. There are a number of reasons for doing this, but it is done often and under the law.

The issue of adoptive parents lying to their adopted children is another matter entirely. There are many instances of this occurring, but the reasons for it usually have nothing to do with "covering up" a kidnapping or baby selling scheme.

Problems do occur when adoptees try to search for birth parents or vice versa. When names, dates, and places have been changed it makes searching very difficult - but not impossible, if the searcher is aware that these changes MIGHT have been made in his or her case.

I don't know what the exact numbers are, but the vast majority of adoptions involve either the adoption of children by other family members or the adoptions of infants by couples who have qualified through a rather involved process.

The adoption of an older child who was kidnapped from his/her home - while certainly possible - would be a rare exception, rather than the rule. It would require a corrupt system and unscrupulous individuals within that system.

Adoption searches can be very easy or they can take months and years. They can be very frustrating with a lot of dead ends. Each case is unique and each has its story. But very few of them have turned up evidence of "kidnapping for adoption" or baby selling on a large scale.

This is not to say that abuses of the system do not occur, but it is a very long and involved process, and there are a lot of checks and balances to it.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/11/30/grace.coldcase.walker/index.html

Wow!!! Besides Christopher Dansby, another boy, Shane Walker went missing 3 months later from the same area of the same park. They were both last seen playing with the same kids, a 10 year old girl and her 5 year old brother. They both went missing in the early evening hours of a Thursday. They both lived in the same apartment complex.

Shane Walker's mother said Shane was sitting on a bench with her eating potato chips, and the two children walked up and asked if Shane could play. Then a man sat down next to her and started talking about crime, how things can happen to children, and even mentioned kidnapping. He said he'd been in a lot of fights and had a lot of scars. When Shane's mother, Rosa Glover turned to look at the scars, and turned back around, the children were gone. She found the other 2 children re-entering the park through a hole in a wire fence. The children said they left Shane in the park.

I'm going to look for a thread for Shane so I can post this there too.
Really eerie story and a good read with lots of info.

NewMommy, thank you for that link. I had read about both cases in the past, but I'd never heard those details before. How heart-wrenching for the boy's mother, to have him disappear almost before her eyes.

The story kind of reminds me of that boy in Washington who was playing in the park with, I think, his father nearby. The father was distracted by a couple and a child, and before he knew it, his son was gone. I can't remember the name exactly. Wallace Guidroz? Something like that.

A lot of these links no longer exist, sadly.

So, I am hoping you wonderfully intelligent people can point me in a direction to begin.

About 5 years ago now we found out that my mom, who found out she was adopted basically by sneaking around, found out the reality is she was never actually adopted.

Let me attempt to explain. When she went to file for social security, naturally they asked for her records and such. The adoption record my mom had, that she basically took from her parents as a teen, doesn't exist in the NH law books in Exeter which covers Rockingham County.

My parents had moved south, from NH, so I asked my MIL to head to her town hall, Salem which is where my mom grew up, and get a copy of the birth certificate. The town clerk, who knows my MIL, and clearly remembered my mom as they went to school together, was absolutely baffled at what she found. She found a number of entries, all falsified, some filed years after my mothers birth and/or adoption. There were records filed from someone who had been a local doctor at the time, that he witnessed the birth, but dates were crossed out, written over, etc.

In the end, for my mothers legal records, the state of NH, at this time 5 years ago, basically gave my mother a blank birth certificate, allowing her to use the name and date of birth she has used her entire life. They were wonderful about it, no issues, they knew this was an illegal adoption, at best.

Now, my grandfather, the adoptive father, was a police captain in the town of Salem, NH. http://townofsalem.org/department-information/department-history.html Just by this story alone, you can get a tiny taste of how important he was in town. It is extremely conceivable that he could have pulled this off without question.

Now, my mom was believed to be born in 1941, though the actual month and day are unclear at this point. There is no family left. My grandparents passed away many years ago. To my mothers knowledge my grandmother had only 1 sibling who died I believe it was in WW1. My grandfather had 4 sisters who actually ran the farm on Cluff Rd, as my grandparents lived on North Policy Street, and they were all spinsters. My grandparents had no other children, biological or adopted.

Where would one even begin to try and track down family of an illegally adopted person in 1941? Is it even remotely possible.

Thank you for any direction you can steer me in or any advice you may have.

LisRho said:

A lot of these links no longer exist, sadly.

So, I am hoping you wonderfully intelligent people can point me in a direction to begin.

About 5 years ago now we found out that my mom, who found out she was adopted basically by sneaking around, found out the reality is she was never actually adopted.

Let me attempt to explain. When she went to file for social security, naturally they asked for her records and such. The adoption record my mom had, that she basically took from her parents as a teen, doesn't exist in the NH law books in Exeter which covers Rockingham County.

My parents had moved south, from NH, so I asked my MIL to head to her town hall, Salem which is where my mom grew up, and get a copy of the birth certificate. The town clerk, who knows my MIL, and clearly remembered my mom as they went to school together, was absolutely baffled at what she found. She found a number of entries, all falsified, some filed years after my mothers birth and/or adoption. There were records filed from someone who had been a local doctor at the time, that he witnessed the birth, but dates were crossed out, written over, etc.

In the end, for my mothers legal records, the state of NH, at this time 5 years ago, basically gave my mother a blank birth certificate, allowing her to use the name and date of birth she has used her entire life. They were wonderful about it, no issues, they knew this was an illegal adoption, at best.

Now, my grandfather, the adoptive father, was a police captain in the town of Salem, NH. http://townofsalem.org/department-information/department-history.html Just by this story alone, you can get a tiny taste of how important he was in town. It is extremely conceivable that he could have pulled this off without question.

Now, my mom was believed to be born in 1941, though the actual month and day are unclear at this point. There is no family left. My grandparents passed away many years ago. To my mothers knowledge my grandmother had only 1 sibling who died I believe it was in WW1. My grandfather had 4 sisters who actually ran the farm on Cluff Rd, as my grandparents lived on North Policy Street, and they were all spinsters. My grandparents had no other children, biological or adopted.

Where would one even begin to try and track down family of an illegally adopted person in 1941? Is it even remotely possible.

Thank you for any direction you can steer me in or any advice you may have.

Click to expand...

What an interesting story. You and your poor mother must be so frustrated. I am totally a novice sleuther, so others may have some better ideas. But it occurred to me that talking to either the former town clerk who was the one who was responsible for the falsified entries, or the local doctor, would be avenues to explore. If these people are deceased, then perhaps their spouses, if any.

It also occurs to me that with your grandfather being the chief of police, and the doctor who was involved being local, that perhaps your mother was born to a local girl/woman. I'm just not sure how one would go about exploring this idea further. If you had the different dates of birth from the town clerk records, perhaps you could explore local records somehow with them?