Between 1954-1972, Homestead Maternity Home in Fort Worth, Texas, housed thousands of pregnant women of all ages, married and unmarried, who came to Fort Worth to give birth to babies they gave up for adoption through Homestead's child placement agency. Some individuals have referred to this period of time in mid-century America as the "Baby Scoop Era," and to Fort Worth, Texas, as an "Adoption Mecca." Without a doubt, the life of every woman who gave up her baby for adoption was changed forever. Author Janice Tracy interviewed nearly one hundred Homestead birth mothers, adoptees, and adoptive parents who shared with her their personal and emotional stories. In "Adopted in Texas," you will read about the Fort Worth hotel owner and the Baptist minister who started Homestead Maternity Home, the doctors who delivered the babies at local hospitals, and the social workers and lawyers who facilitated the adoptions. In addition, you will read about the difficulties adoptees and birth mothers still experience in searching for each other. These searches have been and continue to be complicated due to the alleged destruction of Homestead's records by those who operated the facility and by the maternity home's use of birth mothers' assumed names on hospital records and other official documents, including original birth certificates filed with the State of Texas. In some cases, no original birth certificates exist at all. But most of all, you will hear the truth about Homestead's maternity care and adoption practices through the voices of those who experienced the process firsthand.
Janice Branch Tracy attended the University of Mississippi and retired from a 30-year career with the U.S. Government, working in several states. After retiring in Dallas, the author transitioned her family history research hobby into a blog entitled "Mississippi Memories," which Family Tree Magazine named one of its Top Forty Blogs in 2011 and in 2013. In 2014, and again in 2015, Tracy wrote two books, The Juke Joint King of the Mississippi Hills: The Raucous Reign of Tillman Branch, and Mississippi Moonshine Politics: How Bootleggers and the Law Kept a Dry State Soaked, each published by The History Press and Arcadia Publishing. Tracy is the mother of five children and stepmother to two daughters and lives with her husband in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, gardening, genealogy research, and occasional travel.
