Camille Kelley

Camille Kelley ( McGee; October 13, 1879 – January 28, 1955) was an American juvenile court judge and author. She was investigated by the state of Tennessee for using her judgeship to aid Georgia Tann's ongoing adoption fraud operation conducted under the auspices of the Tennessee Children's Home Society and resigned shortly after this information became public.

Early life and education Kelley was born in Trenton, Tennessee. She attended the State Normal School of Jackson, Tennessee, before deciding to become a doctor like her father, and attending Rochelle Warford Sanitarium. She planned to continue her medical education in Philadelphia, but instead took over the care of her nieces and her nephews when her brother's wife died. She married Thomas F. Kelley, a prominent lawyer in Memphis.

Career Kelley said that women and mothers were the only people fit to be advocates of child welfare. In 1909, she founded the Memphis branch of the Parent-Teacher Association, eventually rising to the position of chairman of the Memphis federation of the organization. She then began studying state child welfare laws and child psychology. Kelley also served as the secretary of the City Agricultural Committee during World War I. Although not a lawyer, she worked for years in the law office of her husband, Thomas Fitzgerald Kelley. After his death, and with the aid of Memphis mayor "Boss" Crump, Camille Kelley was appointed and then elected as the juvenile court judge in Shelby County, Tennessee, and served from May 1, 1920 to 1950.

At first, the mayor named Kelley for the bench in January 1920 while Tennessee was still working to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment. The mayor held off on formally nominating Kelley at the time due to questions surrounding her eligibility.

Personal life She had two sons and daughter. The daughter died as a child.