Exclusive: President of parent group tearfully admits selling donations

11:57 PM CDT on Thursday, July 28, 2005

By SCOTT FARWELL / The Dallas Morning News

ALLEN – The president of Collin County's largest foster parent group said this week she sold donated clothing, bedding and toys for needy children on eBay and used the money to pay her bills.

Marcia Hookie, 50, of Allen, tearfully admitted that she violated state law, a written agreement with a national nonprofit distributor, and the trust of the more than 250 families in her charitable group, the Foster and Adoptive Parents of Collin County.

"My kids are going to pay for this," she said, sobbing. "I run a group of foster parents, and they look up to everything I do. I tell them they can't sell stuff, they can't return it ... and then I'm out there doing it."

Supporters say Marcia Hookie is a wonderful foster parent.

Mrs. Hookie said she was motivated by desperation, not greed.

She initially deflected questions about one of her eBay accounts, "txmomof7," suggesting someone had hijacked her laptop and stolen her password. She said one of her adult children, unnamed enemies from a competing foster parent group, or jealous mothers within her organization may be guilty.

"I swear to God I did not sell those things," Mrs. Hookie said, standing in the doorway of her home, one of her four adopted children peeking around her waist.

But later, when confronted with transaction records from her online account, the foster mother of 13 years dissolved in tears.

"I did it," she said. "I don't know why. There's no excuse."

Mrs. Hookie, who currently has one foster child, said she has made about $200 since May selling new and like-new donations from Pottery Barn Kids on eBay. Her organization also collects gifts from Disney Toys, Williams Sonoma and Bed Bath & Beyond.

Those businesses contract with a Virginia-based philanthropic group, Gifts In Kind, which marries local charities with corporate donors. Mrs. Hookie makes a circuit to local stores about once a month to pick up overstocked, outdated and opened items, which are supposed to be distributed to foster and adopted children.

Barry Anderson, interim president and chief executive officer of Gifts In Kind, cut off the Collin County charity on Tuesday.

"We're out there trying to do the better good," Mr. Anderson said. "If we find criminals or scoundrels, we're going to purge them."

The Collin County district attorney's office is not investigating Mrs. Hookie, but a spokesman for Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said the situation could lead to the revocation of the charity's tax-exempt status. It is against the law in Texas to sell for personal gain goods donated to a charity.

Child Protective Services would not take action against Mrs. Hookie, according to spokeswoman Marissa Gonzales, unless she was charged with a crime or her children were in danger.

"We don't have any indication those children have been mistreated in any way," she said.

Mrs. Hookie's scam began to unravel about a month ago during a lunch meeting with Melissa Hutchison of McKinney.

Mrs. Hutchison said she was interested in becoming a foster parent, and was seeking the guidance of Mrs. Hookie, whose name and number popped up during a simple Internet search. They met at a Mexican restaurant in Allen.

Almost immediately, Mrs. Hutchison said, her lunch mate encouraged her to work the foster care system to maximize payments from the state. She said Mrs. Hookie told her foster parents are paid $16 to $17 a day to take care of healthy children, but if she earned a certification to take care of sick children, she could collect as much as $25 to $26 a day.

A Pottery Barn bedding set was offered on eBay under Marcia Hookie's user ID, txmomof7. Pottery Barn Kids helps Gifts In Kind, which matches charities with corporate donors.

"At some point in the conversation she mentioned a great perk to fostering ... [donations] from a company called Gifts In Kind," Mrs. Hutchison said. " She seemed to be bragging a bit on all the nice things the expensive stores donated to her. She said since she was the president of the organization, [and] she gets first look at everything."

Abruptly, Mrs. Hutchison said, Mrs. Hookie asked her if she used eBay. Later, she offered her user name.

"She kept saying that she makes a ton of money on it and how I should join and start reaping the benefits of selling online," Mrs. Hutchison said.

A few days later, Mrs. Hutchison surfed to the eBay Web site and typed in "txmomof8," which she had been given, and then, out of curiosity, looked under "txmomof7".

A light bulb went off when she noticed a long list of things from Pottery Barn Kids, Disney and Williams Sonoma.

Mrs. Hutchison wrote an e-mail to Gifts In Kind and The Dallas Morning News.

"I guess she never thought I'd go and look and figure her out," Mrs. Hutchison said. "It makes me feel sad, especially when she said a perk of fostering is all that free stuff."

Mrs. Hookie may be the most celebrated foster parent in Collin County, in part because of an essay published last Christmas on The News' Collin County editorial page. It was headlined, "Do you believe in Angels?"

"Marcia Hookie has welcomed children to her home for about 12 years, after having raised three daughters. Marcia has mothered about 70 children. It doesn't matter how the child comes – abused, neglected, naked, newborn or hungry – Marcia welcomes them all. She lovingly accepts children of all colors and all medical conditions (in a body cast or toting an oxygen tank, for example).

"Whenever Child Protective Services calls, even in the middle of the night, Marcia is ready with a big smile and a 'yes' to whatever child needs her. The children always come first. Marcia, a foster parent, is truly an angel to children in need."

In foster care and adoptive parents circles, Mrs. Hookie is also known as the mother who took in a baby girl who was abandoned Dec. 29, 1993, in the laundry room of an Arlington apartment complex. Nurses named her Baby Noel.

Sabrina Parker, a foster care and adoption recruiter for the Collin County Children's Advocacy Center, said she doesn't condone Mrs. Hookie's behavior, but one mistake shouldn't overshadow years of selfless work.

She said there are 400 children needing foster care in Collin County and only 120 available homes. Mrs. Parker said she hopes this story does not discourage prospective foster parents from taking in children who need homes.

"This is an error of judgment by someone who's not a bad person," she said. "This is someone who for years and years has cared for foster and adopted children, and she has done wonderful things."

Kim Richardson, vice president of the Collin County foster parents group, suspects Mrs. Hookie isn't the only person in the charity who is abusing the system.

Some foster and adoptive mothers were collecting as many as a dozen new comforters each month when the group held its monthly Closet Cleaning event for donated goods.

"You know they don't have that many beds in their house," she said. "And most of them are king and queen size when most people have toddler beds or twin beds. We always assumed people sold them on eBay or in garage sales."

Mrs. Richardson said the Collin County charity is likely to die without Mrs. Hookie.

"I realize she messed up, but there are probably a lot of other members doing the same thing," she said. "I think ... she deserves another chance because I don't believe she would ever do anything like this again."

E-mail sfarwell@dallasnews.com