Where Trust Was Betrayed and Babies Were Sold
In a sleepy town near the Tennessee border, beneath the gentle hum of Appalachia, an unimaginable betrayal unfolded—one baby at a time.
Between the 1940s and 1960s, Dr. Thomas “Doc” Hicks transformed his small-town clinic in McCaysville, Georgia, into the epicenter of a black-market baby trafficking operation. For decades, desperate mothers were misled, and newborns were secretly sold—not through courts, but through cash-filled envelopes and forged documents.
Over 200 infants. Hundreds of families fractured. Countless truths buried.
And the scandal? It didn’t fully unravel until more than 30 years later.
The Hicks Clinic: A House of False Hope
In post-war America, unwed pregnancies carried stigma. Options were limited. Dr. Hicks exploited this shame.
He lured young women with promises of abortions, then convinced many to carry their pregnancies to term. Some mothers were told their babies had died, only for those infants to be handed over—illegally sold to eager adoptive couples.
The price? As little as $100 to several thousand dollars.
Adoptive parents would drive into town, pay in cash, sign a forged birth certificate listing themselves as biological parents, and drive away—with no legal adoption, no paperwork trail, and no idea of the deception that paved the way.
It was an assembly line of lies, hidden behind a doctor’s smile.
The Woman Who Blew the Doors Open
The truth may have remained hidden forever, if not for one of the stolen babies herself.
Jane Blasio, adopted through the Hicks Clinic, learned at six that she was “special.” At 14, she read her birth certificate and saw the words “Hicks Clinic.” That name would haunt her for decades.
Fueled by grief and grit, she launched a lifelong investigation—connecting with others, uncovering sealed secrets, and tracing the dark legacy of the man who had sold her.
She wasn’t alone. Hundreds of other “Hicks Babies” came forward, many unaware that their identities had been faked, their origins erased, their families shattered.
Jane’s work turned whispers into headlines. Her mission became a movement.
DNA Doesn’t Lie
In the face of falsified paperwork and burned records, the truth emerged in the most modern way—through DNA.
Genetic testing allowed many Hicks Babies to uncover biological roots once thought lost forever. Parents. Siblings. Cousins. Entire family trees reshaped overnight.
For Blasio, the path led to heartbreak. She believed she’d found her birth mother, Kitty Self, a teenager forced to surrender her child. But DNA revealed no match.
Instead, she later identified her biological father, Herbert Claud Cruce. One name. One sliver of truth. One small piece of a massive, missing puzzle.
“It wasn’t the reunion I imagined,” she shared.
“But it was mine. It was real. And that matters more than anything.”
Doc Hicks Died a Free Man
Despite overwhelming evidence and a trail of stolen lives, Dr. Hicks was never held accountable.
In 1964, he lost his medical license—not for selling babies, but for performing illegal abortions. He died in 1972, having never served a day for the theft of over 200 identities.
His death sealed many secrets. But it didn’t end the fight for truth.
A Community Complicit in Silence
To this day, many in McCaysville remain tight-lipped. Some believe Hicks did “a service,” placing babies with loving homes. Others say the town knew more than it admitted—and chose to look away.
“It was easier for people to believe it was charity,” Blasio said,
“than to face that it was trafficking.”
Behind closed doors, stories emerge. Some birth mothers returned to find the clinic shuttered, their babies gone. Others never spoke of it again, the trauma too heavy to carry.
The Human Cost of a Hidden Market
For every child reunited, dozens more remain lost in the dark.
Some grew up with loving families. Others faced abuse, neglect, or a lifetime of questions.
Some found truth. Others found graves where answers should have been.
And all of them were denied the choice to know who they really were.
Jane Blasio’s Ongoing Mission
Today, Jane continues her work—helping Hicks Babies reclaim their past, guiding them through DNA testing, family searches, and emotional healing.
“This isn’t just a story. It’s our lives,” she says.
“And every truth we uncover is a step toward justice—for us, and for the ones who still don’t know.”
Her journey, chronicled in the memoir Taken at Birth, is not just about recovery. It’s about righteous defiance—against a system that failed, against silence that endured, and for the identities that deserve to be reclaimed.
FAQs
Who was Dr. Hicks and what was the Hicks Clinic?
Dr. Thomas Hicks operated a clinic in McCaysville, Georgia, where he illegally sold over 200 newborns between the 1940s and 1960s under the guise of legal adoptions.
How were babies sold through the clinic?
Hicks would forge birth certificates, place adoptive parents as biological ones, and accept cash payments—bypassing all legal adoption protocols.
Was anyone prosecuted for the Hicks Baby scandal?
No. Hicks lost his license in 1964 for illegal abortions but was never charged for trafficking babies. He died in 1972.
How were families reunited?
Through DNA testing and investigative efforts led by people like Jane Blasio, many Hicks Babies have since found biological relatives.
Is the investigation still ongoing?
Yes. Blasio and other advocates continue to uncover new cases, connect families, and pressure for full accountability.