From The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

September 12, 2020

Charges Filed in Little Angels Black Market Adoption Scheme

By Christina Barnings

Charges were filed today in federal court regarding the black-market adoption scandal that rocked Georgia in July. Five people have been federally charged with crimes against fifteen families regarding the births of their children. Arraignments were filed with the understanding that more charges will be coming with more people expected to be arraigned once the investigation is complete.

Local attorneys Scott Gimple and Phillip Blake have each been charged with twenty-three counts related to the crimes of their black-market adoption racket. They range from eight counts of grand larceny to fifteen counts of selling or buying of children. The latter charges alone are each punishable by imprisonment for not less than thirty years or for life, and by a fine upwards of one million dollars for each count.

The charges of selling or buying children have also been leveled at Dr. Edwin Jenner, the attending physician present at the births in question. His nurse, Abigail Henderson and hospital admissions manager Sharon Donaldson are both being charged with eight counts of larceny and fifteen counts of aiding and abetting the selling or buying of children.

All five defendants are being held without bond.

August 20, 2021

Carol looked around the room, noting the few traces of her daughter that remained. All of the pictures featuring their family that had littered the room's surfaces were now packed in the boxes stacked in the entryway of the home. Carol had always pictured the day that her child would leave for college. It was a picture that she thought had been forever stolen from her; one granted to her now. She was grateful for the last year; despite the pain it had brought.

Michelle had come for her two week visit and had never left. During that time, Carol and Daryl never knew why or quite when, but sometime in between the laughs and the awkward pauses, Michelle became Sophia. A butterfly emerging from her cocoon.

Their oldest had announced her decision right after the first of the charges were announced to the media. Daryl was of the opinion that perhaps Sophia's acceptance of her birth name came from a place of wanting to start over. Carol didn't want to speculate. Sophia's decisions were her own. She was only grateful for the chance to start over with their daughter.

Sophia had stayed here with them for just under a year. Now the time had come however, to say goodbye. The Dixons could only be thankful that she wasn't going far. The young woman had enrolled in a local university for classes in social work. Milton and his new clinic were waiting for her to finish her degree. She was going to work beside the man who had helped smooth the path from her to her family. The grief support he had given the Dixons over the years was something that interested Sophia enough to pledge her future to. She would be working beside Milton in four years' time. It was the right path for her, and Aaron and the Dixons supported her decisions whole-heartedly.

Aaron had returned to Virginia, not wanting to sell the Marquand's family home. He was an honorary Dixon though, one who leaned on Daryl and Carol as his own birth parent search progressed. He had no comfort of knowing if his adoption was legal or not, all records of such ambiguous at best. He was still looking though, so they stood beside him, offering any support that they could.

Mika and Luke had bonded with Sophia to such an extent that Carol thought they were taking the news of Sophia moving to the dorms hardest. She had impressed upon her younger siblings the importance of finding your own path forward. That lesson had been one that Daryl gave her, and that she touched upon often.

In Sophia's mind, she had chosen the right path. She didn't stop loving her adoptive parents, even with the proof of her purchase. She chose instead to focus on the love they gave her for her first eight years. If nothing else, they had given her Aaron; somebody she would never wish away from her life. But now, she had her true parents. They may have only been in her life a year, but they were there, and they were hers. She often looked back on her search, and instead of focusing on the hardships, she focused on the end result. The result that made sure she no longer had a future being a black-market baby. That black-market forever life was now gone; vanished into a life of love that would be hers forever. That was not a path that Carol could ever scoff at. Instead, she closed the door to what had been her oldest daughter's bedroom and joined her husband and children in the foyer. They were all going with Sophia to help her say hello to her new future at university. The fact that she would be back though; that is what kept them happy for her. They would never be in a position to lose her again. And that when all was said and done, was more than enough.