Baby Broker | 3. The Birth Mothers

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I want to tell you about Sarah

And why she decided in her late 20s

To give up her baby for adoption

Sarah was petite

With brown hair and large eyes

She wore thick glasses

She'd grown up in Michigan

She'd had some bad relationships

She lived with her two young children

In a trailer outside Detroit

And was pregnant with a girl

Thank you. she'd had some bad relationships.
She lived with her two young children in a trailer outside Detroit and was pregnant with a girl. There was no washer or dryer, no hot water.
When she cooked for her kids, she had to step around a hole in the floor. Sarah decided it was too much, financially and physically, to raise another child on her own.
She had a boyfriend, but he wasn't the father. In the summer of 2018, when Sarah was six months pregnant, she put her baby up for adoption with Tara Lee.
Meanwhile, in a middle-class suburb in Chicago, Tammy and Nick Granath were considering matching for a second time. That's because their match with 19-year-old Sabrina was crumbling.
First, she tried to kill herself. Then she threatened to do it again if they abandoned her.
So when Tara Lee invited Tammy and Nick to match with Sarah, they jumped at the chance. And it hurt when Sarah chose to go with a different family.
A month passed, and then... We get a phone call from Tara Lee, and she said, you know, Sarah is not feeling comfortable with the match she made.
She was wondering if you guys would still be open to adopting her daughter. And we were just thrilled.
Oh my gosh, she wants to match with us. Should we do it? In mid-August, Tammy and Nick signed a new contract and sent Tara Lee $8,000 for Sarah's living expenses.
More would be due when she delivered. Later that day, Tara Lee called them again.
She says, can you come up tomorrow because she has an ultrasound. So the next day, after work, Tammy and Nick drove to Detroit.
And the next morning, tired and excited, they drove to a Cracker Barrel outside the city, snagged a round table, and waited for Sarah and Tara Lee to arrive. Then they saw a big Suburban pull up.
And in walks this lady who has jet black hair and is covered in tattoos. She has her name brand jeans.
She has her nails done. I believe she told me they were $125 to get her nails done.
Like she was very, I mean, these were very detailed artwork of art nails. It was Tara Lee.
Wow, she's like our age. You know, she was a little bit older.
She's like I said, three years older than me. Tara Lee was just 36 years old.
And that year, in 2018, she'd make more than a million dollars from adoptions. Enough to have designer nails.
Enough to look good and know it. She swaggered in like a rock star, as if the Graniths were fans.
Except they weren't. But she didn't seem to care.

She had them on the hook for two babies.

Tara Lee had everything under control.

Or so she thought.

From Sony Music Entertainment and Perfect Cadence,

this is Baby Broker.

I'm Peter McDonald.

Episode 3.

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Terms and conditions apply. The Graniths were about to discover how much they could endure for the promise of adopting a baby.
This breakfast, this day, this match would push them way out of their comfort zone. And the deeper they went, the harder it would be to get out.
Because Tara Lee's ability to match families so quickly was a double-edged sword, she could also take a match away by turning one side against the other and blowing up the deal. Behind Tara Lee, Sarah ambled in.
She wore a red tank top and jeans, which strained at her pregnant belly. I just thought she was so pretty.
She was blonde, very blonde. Tammy got up and gave Sarah a big hug.
Tara Lee's assistant, Chelsea, came in next with a black eye. Tammy thought she overheard it was from a fight with her partner.
She said Tara Lee and Chelsea acted like it was no big deal. But all through breakfast, they couldn't unsee it.
A woman with a black eye was helping take care of their birth mother. They tried to focus their attention on Sarah, but Tara Lee kept stealing the spotlight.

She was trying to ask us questions. Tara Lee kept cutting her off.
She would speak for her. After breakfast, they all climbed into their cars to go to Hutzel Women's Hospital for the ultrasound.
And Tara Lee said she had to run an errand on the way. She says, I have to make a stop and give a gift card

for expenses to a birth mom.

Follow me.

And she's flooring it.

She's doing like 100 miles an hour to get there.

Through the neighborhood streets.

They passed block after block of boarded up houses

with plywood on the windows.

And then Tara Lee slammed on the brakes in front of a shabby bungalow.

You see a pregnant girl walk outside and she hands her something,

which looked to me to be a gift card.

So you think, oh, okay, this is legit.

She does have a ton of birth moms.

Look at that. And then we take off and we go to the ultrasound.
The ultrasound showed that Sarah's baby girl was healthy. Sarah was due, as predicted, on September 8th.
Tammy and Nick planned to stay in Detroit for one more night, but Tara Lee reminded them not to contact Sarah directly. I was like, well, forget that.
Like, I'm not going through you to talk to our birth mom. I want to get to know her.
The next day, Tammy and Nick took Sarah and her older son to lunch. Over $15 hamburgers, Tammy and Nick realized that things they took for granted, like Starbucks coffee and a laundry room, were unattainable luxuries for Sarah.
They had a hole in their trailer floor. There was no washing machine.
There was no dryer. She said she didn't even have money for diapers.
In the wedding business, Tammy and Nick were used to rubbing elbows with people far wealthier than themselves. Tammy shared one story about a bride who demanded to be called Mariah because she thought she looked like Mariah Carey.
When her dad gave her diamond-studded pearl earrings, Mariah threw them on the floor like junk because she wanted double pearls. The point is, Tammy and Nick weren't used to being the rich ones, unconsciously signaling their wealth.
But eating out, staying in a hotel, filling up their gas tank, texting on fancy cell phones, they'd been signaling it all day. Then they found out, from Sarah, that none of the $8,000 they'd sent to Tara Lee had trickled down to her yet.
Sarah also didn't seem to realize she could ask for it. They urged her to do so.
After lunch, they took Sarah shopping for maternity clothes and diapers for her youngest child. Then, they hugged her goodbye and drove home to Chicago.
They'd be back in three weeks. A lot went through their minds on that drive home.
They really liked Sarah. They trusted her, and they wanted to help her.
But Tara Lee had been saying some things behind Sarah's back that made them think twice. Sarah's not a good person.
Sarah is an addict. Sarah puts her kids in really bad situations.
Sarah is a liar. And it made them wonder.
If the things Tara Lee said about Sarah were true, why would she match them with her? In any case, it was way too much to investigate and figure out under the time pressure. The bottom line was, liked Sarah, and they went with that.
It was the Friday before Labor Day weekend, 2018. A huge weekend in the wedding industry.
Tammy was booked for three days straight. Nick was managing the books and schedules with a coffee in one hand.
The timing couldn't have been worse when Tara Lee called them with urgent news about Sarah. You've got to get here and you've got to get here now.
She could pop any minute. Tara Lee is incredibly pressing us to get there.
So if I could just get through my wedding, so Friday, Saturday, Sunday, if I can get through my weddings, we could leave on Monday and we'll be good. I asked Tammy why she thought Tara Lee wanted them to rush up early to Detroit.
Did she really believe Sarah was about to deliver? Did she think she knew better than Sarah's doctor, than Sarah herself? I can truly say it's because the very first day we were there, she met us for our final payment. When they rolled out on Labor Day, a bad storm rolled in.
Buckets of rain and howling winds turned a four-hour cruise into a six-hour slog. In a dark drizzle, they met Tara Lee, Chelsea, and Sarah for dinner at Coney Island, a cultish Detroit hot dog chain.
They crammed into a booth. Then, over hot dogs buried in mustard and onions, Tara Lee brought up Sabrina, the 19-year-old birth mother who had been suicidal.
In the same offhand way you might say passed the ketchup, she said. Oh, Sabrina gave birth.
And oh, yeah. Then she acted like, oops, you heard.
Oops, you heard me. And so I stopped right away and I look at her and I said, wait, Sabrina gave birth? And she was like, oh yeah, she gave birth.
She says the grandparents are raising the baby with her. And then she says that it has some disease.

I googled it right then and there and it basically is where you don't know if the child will ever

hear, they'll ever see. This disease was so intense.
So here this baby is with this horrible

condition and then the worst is she says to us, yeah, she's in the NICU at Hudson. That was the same hospital, on the same floor, in the same wing, where Sarah would deliver.
It meant they'd see Sabrina and her baby. They didn't know what she looked like, But how many blonde 19-year-olds could there be in the labor and delivery ward at any one time? Regardless, she knew what they looked like.
She'd pick them because Tammy liked to go fishing. Because they were willing to be honest with her child about the rape.
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Tammy and Nick planned to be in Detroit for weeks. They set up camp in an extended stay hotel and waited on pins and needles.
Sarah was due to give birth any day. So was Stephanie.
One of Tara Lee's selling points for matching with Stephanie during that drama on the driveway was that she'd deliver at the same time as Sarah. They'd have two babies for the price of one trip to Detroit.
Their lives were about to get crazy. Tammy and Nick had never met Stephanie.
So, just like with Sarah, they reached out to her. Stephanie lived an hour north of Detroit, near Port Huron, a town on the Canadian border.

Yeah, this house had to be well run down.

I think it was a two-flat, like an old, you could see the paint is peeling off.

It was cold, so the granites sat in their warm car, waiting for Stephanie to appear.

They'd never seen a picture of her.

They'd only heard her voice on the phone. She walked out.
She has really big eyes, big blue eyes, I want to say. And like, I just remember her eyes being such a focal point, and she's very pretty.
And she had brown hair. She was in her early, you know, 40s.
And you could tell that Stephanie had seen a lot in life and had been through some hard times. Nick helped her into the car.
You know, I just remember her distinctly just saying, it's nice and warm in here. And this is really sweet.
Thank you guys so much for picking me up. They drove to Applebee's.
Halfway there, it got quiet. They looked in their rearview mirror and saw that Stephanie had fallen asleep.
She had never been to an Applebee's before. We sat down in the booth and it was a very, very awkward lunch because, you know, just opening the menu, she fell asleep right in front of us.
It's not unusual to be sleepy during pregnancy, but two accidental naps meant Stephanie must have been exhausted. Tammy told Stephanie about her job doing makeup for weddings.
They talked about hair and nails. And then they decided it would be fun to get their hair and nails done together.
And so we did. Then they went to TJ Maxx.
You know, she didn't have any maternity clothes. She got clothes for herself.
She got clothes for her son. She got shoes for herself, shoes for her son.
And then she picked out items for baby boy. Specifically, a stuffed furry bunny rabbit.
And those things were so special to me because she had chosen them. But during their girls' day out, Stephanie told Tammy something that threw her into a tailspin.
From the get-go, Tara Lee had pitched them on the fact that Stephanie was due at the same time as Sarah, early September.

They could come up to Detroit once and leave with two babies.

But Stephanie just shook her head.

No, no.

She said Tara Lee was way off.

She said, I'm not due till the end of October.

That was a month and a half later. Tammy and Nick were speechless.
They dropped Stephanie off at home and called Tara Lee. Hey, you know, Stephanie's saying she's not due until the end of October, but you told us she's due now.
You know, Tara Lee said, oh, she doesn't know what she's talking about. Yes, she's due right now.

As a matter of fact, she could probably go any day. Maybe it's because Tara Lee billed herself as the adoption expert.
Maybe because she seemed so confident when she said it. And maybe because Stephanie didn't have any prenatal care.
They trusted Tara Lee's word over Stephanie's. I think Tara Lee perpetuated a myth that poverty and irresponsibility go hand in hand.
And I think even good people like the Graniths fell for it. I'm ashamed even to say it, but I didn't question Tara Lee when she said, well, she doesn't know what she's talking about.
On Friday the 7th, Tammy and Nick were in their hotel when Tara Lee's assistant Chelsea called with news. Not about Stephanie, but about Sarah, the birth mother with blonde hair who lived with her two children in a trailer with a hole in the floor.
Friday the 7th was the day before Sarah had said she was due. Chelsea got right to the point.
She said, I don't want you to panic, but I want you to slowly and calmly and safely get down to Hutzel. And Sarah is in labor.
Whoa, you know, like, we got to grab our bags, we got to grab everything, and of course you're wanting to get down there as soon as possible. And we did.
And Sarah was in labor, she was in a room, and we walked into the room, and you could tell that something was really off. Sarah wouldn't look at them.
Chelsea pulls us outside and she says, you know, Sarah is worried about you having two children. She thought that you were only going to be raising her daughter and she wants her to be the one and only.
Suddenly it was like Sophie's choice. Sarah's baby or Stephanie's.

I went into fight or flight mode.

My entire world revolved around our baby girl.

Tammy tried to push her way back into the room,

but said Chelsea blocked her way.

And then Sarah inexplicably switched her story.

And she's saying,

Sarah doesn't know if she wants you to adopt,

you know, her baby girl,

because Stephanie is racist.

What if this baby boy is racist against his sister?

Who was going to be mixed?

Tammy said the accusation came out of nowhere.

Sarah didn't even know Stephanie. Tammy had just spent the whole day with Stephanie and found it hard to believe she was a bigot.
She begged Sarah to reconsider. Please do not let this affect us.
She made her way to Sarah's side. In between contractions, they talked.
She really wanted Tam in there. She really wanted Chelsea in there.
Eventually, Tammy stepped out and found Nick in the waiting room. But the room was narrow, and they had no choice but to sit across from Tara Lee, who had her laptop on her knees and with her long fingernails, was compulsively typing.
And she looks up and she says, do you want to adopt another baby? She was being dead serious and she said, yeah, here in the NICU, there's a 23 week old baby. She says it's got see-through skin.
She pulls up a picture and so I'm trying to match this baby right now. This is what I'm trying to do.
And I'm between two families. And I remember at that moment thinking, this is like a machine for her.
How could Tara Lee be dialed into another adoption opportunity when just a few rooms down the hall, their match with Sarah was on thin ice? She was already paid up with us, so at that point, I don't think she cared. Tammy got up and went back in with Sarah.
Sarah was still upset, but now what felt like the real source of her frustration came out. Sarah brought up many things to us that hadn't been paid for, from her rent to her phone bill to things that she needed done in her trailer to food.

Tammy said they had never turned down her requests.

They wanted her to have what she needed.

There's no way this is real.

We knew we had given this money.

Then Tammy noticed that Sarah had angry red bumps all over her body. Sarah said they were spider bites.
Her trailer was being infested by spiders. You've got two little ones there, like absolutely not.
Tammy stormed down the hallway and into the waiting room. We tell Tara Lee, we need trailer.
Orkin, go in right now. Yeah, send Orkin.
Send, like, get it sprayed. Well, I don't have money for that and your expenses.
Well, where's our money going? Tara Lee said Sarah was lying. I paid them.
Nope, I gave them a gift card. Nope, I did this.
I'll send you a receipt. And she would make you feel as if you were crazy for questioning it.
So right then and there, we do tell her, we need to meet with you after the birth to go through every single expense that you have paid. Nick walked out and called an exterminator to take care of Sarah's trailer.
Weeks earlier, Tammy had confided in her mom about Tara Lee's shady behavior. Her mom handed her a notebook.
And she was like, you need to start writing down everything. In the waiting room that night, Tammy took out the notebook.
Because I knew the lawyers had to come. I had to sign a paper with the lawyers.
We had to sign a paper with the lawyers. Right there on that day.
And so I wrote everything down, every red flag down.

It was past midnight when she finished. Then an alarm rang.
Their daughter's heart rate had plummeted. Doctors and nurses rushed into Sarah's room and prepared to do an emergency C-section.
But Sarah kept pushing, and her girl, who they named May, was born. Tammy held her and burst into tears.
Sarah and Nick, too. And she was such a little peanut, and she was so cute and just

so beautiful. And, you know, I got to cut the cord.
We got to do skin to skin immediately with her,

and Nick got to give her her first bottle. And it was just such a special, special, special time.
The next day, their lawyer, Tanya Corrado, arrived with adoption paperwork. Tammy handed her the list of red flags.
And I'll never forget, sitting at the table, and Tanya was like, wow, oh, I've never heard any of this. I will take care of this.
This has just got to be a fluke. When Tanya left, Tammy and Nick visited their daughter, May, in the NICU.
She was surrounded by other bassinets, other baby girls. Tammy and Nick looked at all of them, wondering if one of them might be Sabrina's baby.
The baby they had thought would also be their daughter, Avery. We're thinking that baby's here somewhere.
Down in the hospital lobby, in the elevator, and in every hallway, all day and night, they had kept an eye out for Sabrina. But they didn't see her.
Toward morning, they were looking around for someone else too. Someone they did not want to see.
Sarah's boyfriend. When Sarah was in labor, they learned he wanted Sarah to bring the baby home.
He wasn't the father, but he wanted to stop the adoption. His threats had been churning in Sarah's mind as she tried to deliver.

And we start getting reports,

this man has guns and was circling the hospital,

that basically he's going to come to the hospital

and he's going to take the baby,

he's going to cause harm.

So this amazing nurse says, okay, I'm alerting security right now. We're gonna create code words.
We're gonna put a restriction on anybody who's allowed to come in and out of this room. Eventually, when the sun was up, the Granithes made their way outside.
They scanned the parking lot for a man with a gun. They didn't see anyone and drove back to their hotel.
The next day at the hospital, Sarah was gone, but their daughter, May, was still there. One week went by, and then another, and they got into a routine, visiting the NICU every day to see her.
She was getting stronger. And during those weeks, Tammy and Nick kept in touch with Stephanie, but she still showed no signs of going into labor.
And every time they went to the hospital to see their daughter, they would look for Sabrina. They even looked for her name on charts in the NICU.
They asked around, but there was no sign of her. And there's a good reason for that.
Months later, the FBI would find no evidence that Sabrina existed. Tara Lee made her up.
Her rape, her pregnancy, her love of fishing, her baby's terrible disease, her suicide attempts, her disappearances, and her shifty, unreliable commitment to the adoption. You know how these girls are.
Next time on Baby Broker. And Tara Lee just kept blowing it off.
No, no, no. The baby's going to be born.
Teresa tells us that she's got this phone call with these women. I had to.
I had to. I didn't know what was going on.
She's like, I have a question. Do you think there's something not right with Tara? And I was like, girl, I'm glad you asked because yes, this is what I am seeing.
Like I felt, I'm like, I know Tara, this is no way. Like there's no way she did this.
And then we would find proof. Unlock all episodes of Baby Broker ad-free right now by subscribing to the Binge Podcast channel.
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Baby Broker is an original production of Sony Music Entertainment and Perfect Cadence. It was hosted and reported by me, Peter McDonald.
I'm the executive producer, along with Catherine St. Louis and Jonathan Hirsch of Sony Music Entertainment.

Steve and George recorded the narration at the Invisible Studios West Hollywood.

We used music from Audio Network and a few tracks from Epidemic Sound.

News clips are courtesy of WXYZ7 in Detroit, Michigan. Our production managers are Tamika Balance-Kolasny and Sammy Allison.
Our lawyers are Allison Sherry and Kathleen Farley. Special thanks to Steve Ackerman, Emily Rasek, and Jamie Myers.
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