Jane Blasio exposed the black-market adoption ring that she was adopted from. Like many adopted children, Blasio wished to know her true origins, but what she found as she was digging was not a happy story. With her research skills, she hopes to find others like her and reunite them with the families they were stolen from.

Blasio has always known that her parents are not her biological ones. Growing up in Akron, Ohio, all she knew about her origins was that it was a bit sketchy. Her adoptive father told her that he had to pay cash for her. Curious and intrigued, she began to do some digging into the past.

She uncovered that she was one of the 200 babies who were sold by the doctor who delivered them. In a small clinic in Georgia, Dr. Thomas J. Hicks was running an illegal black-market infant ring during the 1950s and 1960s. He would tell the mother that her child was stillborn, and he would keep the baby in the clinic. Prospective adoptive parents would then come to the clinic, pay Hicks $1000, and leave with their new baby—not knowing that they just stole someone else’s child.

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In her search, Blasio was able to find 15 other children like her. Through examining birth certificates and using DNA testing kits, she was able to reunite other Hicks Babies with their biological families. Despite the strain the rigour of the investigating process does on Blaiso, she plans on continuing her search until she finds all the babies. She wants these children and families to finally mend their heartbreaks that lasted decades.

To bring more attention to the issue, the whole story was picked up by TLC, and it has been made into a documentary series. Unfortunately, Hicks cannot be brought to justice because he died long before Blasio was able to expose his operation. The only relief she can provide to those who were stolen from their mothers’ arms is giving them the chance to be in them again. Blasio said that seeing families reunite for the first time in decades is one of the most heartwarming sights she has ever seen.