In 2019, the Texas adoption agency’s license was temporarily suspended by federal authorities
Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office
Jody Hall in mugshot.
The founder of a Texas adoption agency has been charged with two felony counts of sale or purchase of a child, according to her online inmate booking records.
Jody Hall, 68, was booked into Hays County Jail on Thursday, July 23, and released on a $50,000 surety bond the same day.
Hall, who according to her LinkedIn is the founder, attorney and executive director of Adoptions International Inc., was allegedly communicating with pregnant inmates at Tarrant County Jail through their tablet communication system in an attempt to purchase their unborn children, according to arrest affidavits obtained by PEOPLE.
Hall allegedly paid one woman $846 for her unborn child, per the affidavit, telling her at one point that she would halt payments if the woman’s boyfriend did not relinquish his rights to the child. “I don’t need birth moms that lie to me just to get financial support,” she added, per the affidavit.
She allegedly paid another woman $250, allegedly writing on the communication system that she would pay that woman another $2,500 “when you get out, or if you want me to put some on your books each week, I can do that,” the affidavit claims.
Jody Hall is charged with two felony counts of the sale or purchase of a child.” src=”https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/949.1gVkf7gwW7NCHmT_Bg–/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTcwNTtoPTkwMg–/https://media.zenfs.com/en/people_218/308e3483ec464ce8fbaa77154424ae9e” class=”caas-img”>
Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office
Jody Hall is charged with two felony counts of the sale or purchase of a child.
“I’ve helped a lot of girls like yourself,” Hall allegedly wrote the woman on Tuesday, May 7, running through what she called “an open adoption” and promising: “we can help you even when you are not in jail.” She allegedly continued, per the affidavit: “You can pick a family and start communicating with them now. We will put $100 weekly on your books and you can spend part of it on the tablet or whatever you wish to buy. What about the birth father of the baby? Is he around?”
In a later exchange, she allegedly referenced the woman’s incarceration, noting Child Protective Services “will be called” regarding the baby “and I can get them to close their case if I know you have told the social worker and nurses that you have an adoption plan.”
When the woman who had received $846 decided she wanted to keep her child, Hall allegedly called her — per the messages transcribed into the affidavit — “a drug addict” and “a scammer,” threatening: “I will be telling the prosecutor in your case all about how this [adoptive] family supported you since November and you scammed them WITH THE HELP OF YOUR BOYFRIEND. He’s got pictures all over FB of him holding the baby. You are such a liar!!!”
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Texas Penal Code allows for adoption agencies to cover some pregnancy-related expenses of the birth mothers. However, as Tarrant County Jail “incurs all necessary pregnancy-related and living expenses of their inmates,” those payments were “unauthorized,” making Hall’s payments illegal, police claimed in the affidavits.
Adoptions International Inc.’s accreditation was previously suspended in June 2019 “pending additional review,” per a notice by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs.
It was unclear how long the suspension lasted – or what led to it taking place – but the bureau said that for the length of the suspension the adoption agency “must cease to provide all adoption services in connection with intercountry adoption cases” and was “required to transfer their cases to another adoption service provider.”
It was not immediately clear if Hall had obtained a lawyer to represent her in the case or if she had entered pleas to the charges.
In Texas, a conviction for one count of the third degree felony sale or purchase of a child carries a sentence of between two and 10 years behind bars.
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