How Could You? Hall of Shame-Brittany Hill UPDATED

This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.

From Dallas, Texas, a mother placed a classified ad to sell her baby for $4,000. Even worse, a prospective adoptive parent came from out of state to buy the baby, but then got cold feet.

“Authorities said they received a report [from the out-of-state PAP] Wednesday of a woman advertising the sale of her baby boy in a classified advertisement. By Friday afternoon, mother and child were in custody.

The boy is in the care of Child Protective Services while the mother undergoes police questioning.”

“The baby was found Friday afternoon…[when]…[a]partment management entered into an apartment to collect rent from a tenant and
found the baby boy in a crib with no one else in the apartment. The mother returned a short time later.

The mother was taken into custody by Dallas police on charges of Child Abandonment with Intent to Return, which is a State Jail Felony. She was taken to police headquarters for questioning.

The mother’s name has not been released.”
Baby advertised for sale in CPS custody, mom in police custody

[WFAA 6/22/12 by Rebecca Lopez]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Update: The mother’s name is Britany Hill. She is 26 years old. The ad was placed on Craigslist. So far the charge is for abandonment. The PAP was from Florida.

Police: Mother put child for sale on Craigslist

[KSAT 6/25/12]

Update 2: They now spell her name with two t’s.

“In a jailhouse interview with News 8, Brittany Hill, 26, says   she never wanted to make any money off her son.

“Never in my wildest dreams would I sell a child,” she told News  8. “A child is not an animal or a dog on the street.”

She posted the classified ad online several weeks ago on the   website PennySaverUSA.com.  The ad said she was “in search of an [sic] great family for my   son… I can no longer care for him the way he needs to be.”
“I’m working with an adoption agency so there is an adoption fee they have set up,” the ad continued. “I believe its $6,500.”

Hill said she wanted to alert potential parents that an adoption  would likely cost thousands of dollars.

“This is how much you’re going to have to pay for an attorney,  living, medical — all that stuff,” she said. “You can’t just  say, ‘Oh, here’s your baby for free!’”

Hill said she stumbled across the website while Googling ways to   put a child up for adoption. She decided to offer her child  after noticing families posting ads wanting to adopt or take in  foster children.

“Financially, he was going to have everything he wanted in   life,” she said. “I wanted that.”

She said her job as a receptionist wasn’t paying the bills, and   that she could no longer afford to care for four-month-old Eden  Smith.

Hill said she put another four-month-old son up for adoption in  2009 and got $4,000 from an adoption agency — a payment she later believed was inappropriate.

“I didn’t know anything about adoption,” she said.

Dallas police arrested Hill on Friday after receiving a report  of an abandoned child at an apartment in the 9700 block of  Ferris Branch Road in North Dallas. An apartment manager looking  to collect rent discovered Eden in his crib. Hill said she only  stepped out for a few minutes to get some fresh air.

Although police had already been alerted to Hill regarding the  online ad, she only faces charges for abandoning her son in the  empty apartment. Hill is being held in the Dallas County jail on  a $50,000 bond. The infant is now in the custody of Child  Protective Services.

“I want people to look at that and say, ‘This is actually a good  mother,’” Hill said. “’She probably went the wrong route… but  she did want what was best for her child.’”

Mother insists child wasn’t for sale, but up for adoption

[WFAA 6/25/12 by Jonathan Betz]

Update 3: This “good mother” might have sold a previous child, whereabouts unknown.

“Authorities are investigating whether a woman arrested last month after allegedly trying to sell her 4-month-old son may have previously sold another child, according to police documents.

Brittany Lynette Hill, 26, told Dallas police she had put another child up for adoption and was given a $4,000 check, the documents said.

Hill is believed to have had at least four sons. The 4-month-old boy and his two oldest brothers, ages 6 and 8, are being cared for by grandparents. Child Protective Services spokeswoman Marissa Gonzales said the agency is trying to locate the child in question, who is thought to be about 2.

“We’re still not quite sure who might have adopted him or taken him in or whatever the situation may be,” Gonzales said. The agency is working with Dallas police on the case.

“We’re trying to get as much information as we can from her and from relatives and following up on that information to see what we can find out,” Gonzales said. “It seems fairly unusual, especially because we’re still not exactly sure what happened” with the fourth child.

The three boys who are accounted for are in good condition, she said.

Hill remains in the Dallas County Jail on felony charges of sale of a child and abandoning a child. Her bail has been set at $150,000 and she declined an interview request on Monday.

In the case that led to Hill’s arrest last month, a Florida woman on June 18 responded to an advertisement in Penny Saver USA that said “an adoption family was needed for a 4-month-old boy,” police documents said. “The person claimed to be the mother and stated she was residing in a women’s shelter in Dallas, TX.”

The ad also said the woman was working with an adoption agency and that there would be an adoption fee of $6,500, police said.

The Florida woman and Hill apparently struck up an email correspondence, in which Hill allegedly told the woman that she had an adoption attorney and a facilitator. Hill did not provide names for an attorney or adoption agency, the documents said.

On June 19, Hill told the woman she was ready to “do something by the weekend.” She then sent the woman a text message saying she needed money and asked the woman to bring $4,000 and meet her at DFW Airport later that week.

In exchange, Hill allegedly told her she would give her power of attorney to enable her to leave with the baby boy.

There was apparently enough red flags surrounding the proposed deal that the Florida woman opted to notify CPS on June 21. The woman “did so with the intention of gathering information on Texas adoption laws and also to gather any possible information on the suspect’s adoption attorney or adoption agency.”

CPS notified Dallas police and Hill was arrested on June 22. Officers initially arrested her on child abandonment charges because her son was found alone in his Lake Highlands apartment.

Hill initially told police what she did was not against the law. Later, she said she was trying to set up the Florida woman and she was going to contact an attorney as soon as she got her money, the documents said.

“Our concern from the beginning has just been to make sure this baby was safe,” Gonzales said. “Now it’s extended to the other children. We’re working with law enforcement to try to figure out what happened here.”

Dallas woman arrested for trying to sell baby may have previously sold another child

[Dallas News 7/10/12 by Scott Goldstein]