August 7th 2024.
Jody Hall, a 68-year-old woman from Dallas, who works as an adoption agency owner, has recently been accused of engaging in unethical adoption practices. This accusation stems from her involvement in a scheme where she allegedly paid incarcerated women from the Tarrant County jail to put their unborn babies up for adoption through her agency.
According to reports from Fox 4 News, Hall, who runs Adoptions International Inc., is said to have added $846 to one of the incarcerated woman's accounts. She also attempted to arrange a meeting with the woman's boyfriend so that he could sign away his parental rights. Investigators also found evidence that Hall had been communicating with one of the inmates through text messages on her jail tablet.
In one instance, Hall transferred $846 to an incarcerated woman's account, but when the woman decided to keep her baby, Hall became irate. She allegedly wrote, "You're in jail and a drug addict. YOU did NOT keep him. You are a scammer, and I will be telling the prosecutor in your case. I don't need birth moms that lie to me just to get financial support. And I can't give you any more money if he's not willing to sign the paperwork."
The Tarrant County Sheriff's Office has stated that these payments were unauthorized as the jail already covers any pregnancy-related or living expenses. Moreover, Hall's agency had previously lost its accreditation in 2019 due to a failure to meet the required standards.
The investigation into Hall's actions began in May by the Texas Rangers and Tarrant County Sheriff's Office detectives. This eventually led to her arrest at her home on July 23. She was released on a $50,000 bond, and the charges she faces are considered a third-degree felony.
It has also been reported that Hall was involved in a separate scheme where she brokered black-market adoptions from the Marshall Islands through an illegal pipeline in Hawaii. This investigation led to her agency's loss of accreditation and a ban on conducting international adoptions by the Intercountry Adoption Accreditation and Maintenance Entity.
According to John Hill, a reporter for Civil Beat, the act of paying for adoptions is a violation of United States law. He stated, "Five days after our reporting on Jody Hall, the one agency that is commissioned by the U.S. State Department to accredit international adoption agencies apparently read our reporting and suspended Jody Hall's accreditation to do international adoptions. And then, a couple of months after that, they permanently canceled her accreditation. So, she was no longer accredited by the only agency in the United States to do international adoptions."
Hill also shared that these types of adoptions can often be exploitative, and many states have laws against paying for babies. While it is allowed to provide financial support for pregnant women's health and related expenses, it is not legal to simply offer money in exchange for a baby. The allegations against Hall suggest that she crossed this line with the jail inmates she was working with.
In related news, the Tuohy family, who were featured in the movie "The Blind Side," have recently decided to remove all mentions of Michael Oher as their adopted son. This decision was made under the advice of their lawyer, following the news of Hall's alleged involvement in illegal adoptions.
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