In our new series, What Happened Then, AYM features stories from a part of our history unknown to many. Karen Wilson-Buterbaugh spent twenty years researching and writing The Baby Scoop Era. In 2007, Karen founded the Baby Scoop Era: Research, Education, and Inquiry (BSERI) organization to support millions of women forced to surrender their babies between 1945 and 1972.

Young and in love, Karen found herself pregnant at 17 years old. The events that followed were an emotional and humiliating experience. First, she was sent to a wage house, then to a maternity home, where she was labeled an inmate. She found herself isolated from everyone she knew and expected to surrender her child. Karen was not alone. The Baby Scoop Era represents a time when millions of single unwed mothers went into maternity homes where they lived in secrecy and shame.

Connect with Karen
BabyScoopEra.com
Twitter
Buy her book here: The Baby Scoop Era: Unwed Mothers, Infant Adoption and Forced Surrender

Learn more about the podcast at byjennifergriffith.com/category/podcast