Jody Hall, in a mugshot from 2024.
Jody Hall, a Texas Attorney and founder of Adoptions International, was arrested and charged in July of 2024 with felony sale or purchase of a child.
Even before those accusations and actions came, though, she had gained scrutiny for her role in an adoption pipeline that involved women in the Marshall Islands. According to news outlet Civil Beat, Hall had been named in a 2019 investigation as one of several attorneys that had arranged adoptions. These adoptions involved bringing pregnant Marshallese women to the United States through Honolulu, Hawaii, even though treaty restrictions governing these actions were and still are in place. After that report, her international adoption license was revoked.
On May 28th, 2024, the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office (Texas) opened an investigation. They described it as “potentially unethical adoption practices” that involved Hall and her agency, Adoptions International. Communications had been found and were being examined between Hall and women housed in the Tarrant County Jail.
Investigators found that Hall had used the jail’s communication system to contact inmates that were pregnant. Hall identified herself as the director of Adoptions International to these women, and reportedly offered financial assistance (depositing money into inmate commissary accounts, paying for services on jail-issued tablets, etc) to them. “These payments were illegal under Texas law, the affidavit says, because the jail was providing everything the women needed for their pregnancies, including health care, and so could not be justified as necessary,” writes Civil Beat reporter John Hill. Because of this, the law saw these payments as connected to obtaining children for adoption.
The messages were found to go beyond generalized adoption discussions. They included financial arrangements regarding the women’s pregnancies and the potential adoption of the unborn children. Allegedly, one woman was offered $100 per week, and Hall had talked about providing larger totals of money after the women were released. In one case, there was a promise of $2,500.
In the affidavit, Hall is said to have told the inmates that she would continue to provide support – as long as the women did not “scam” her. She had spoken of adoption plans, prospective adoptive families, and parental-rights issues involving the fathers of the children.
The situation soured, however, when the relationship between Hall and at least one inmate deteriorated. That inmate decided she wanted to keep her child rather than proceeding with Hall’s adoption process. Investigators discovered angry and even threatening messages from Hall, calling the inmate a scammer. Hall threatened to tell prosecutors involved in the inmate’s criminal case about the situation. There were also messages where Hall had advised another inmate about dealing with interactions with hospital staffers and child welfare authorities after she gave birth. Hall allegedly told her that if she told nurses or social workers about adoption plans, she could avoid any child welfare concerns.
Once these communications came to light, investigators obtained warrants. Hall was arrested on July 23, 2024 at her home in Kyle, Texas. Her charges included sale or purchase of a child, which is a third-degree felony under Texas law. Hall was released the same day after posting a $50,000 bond, however. Authorities stated that several pregnant inmates had apparently been paid in connection with placing unborn children into Hall’s agency. At this point, Hall still retained her Texas law license, and her agency “remained in good standing with the state” despite criminal charges against Hall.
In October of 2024, the situation became even more complicated. CBS Texas News uncovered information that changed the narrative completely.
One of the women that had been recognized as a victim in Hall’s criminal case, Raynetta Harris, told reporters that she in fact had never been pregnant at all. Harris said that inmates at the jail had learned Hall was placing money in commissary accounts for women she had thought were pregnant. This led to several inmates exploiting the situation to get more commissary money, and claiming they too were pregnant. According to Harris through CBS, “...everybody was in there taking the money”.
Harris provided the information that only one inmate at the jail was actually pregnant. The others simply accepted money, pretending to be expecting mothers. Harris did not express remorse; to her, the payments were basically free money.
At that point in October, Hall’s attorney argued publicly that Hall had not in fact committed a crime. They asserted that adoption agencies are permitted to provide reasonable living-expense assistance to women with adoption plans, and that is what Hall had been doing. The defense further argued that if fraud was proven to have occurred, Hall herself was actually the victim, since inmates lied about being pregnant in order to receive money.
As of latest information, Jody Hall remains out on bond at her home in Kyle, Texas. Her agency has not closed but has suffered extreme losses as a result of these investigations.