PARENTS MAY LOSE 25 KIDS

News-Sentinel, The (Fort Wayne, IN)

Author: ASSOCIATED PRESS

Dateline: SHELBYVILLE

Kathy and Dan Blackburn's divorce could send some or all of the 25 Haitian children they adopted to publicly supported foster care.

No decision has been made about custody of the children adopted by the Blackburns, who had served as missionaries in Haiti. Both are seeking custody, and both have lodged allegations of child abuse against the other.

Kathy Blackburn has temporary custody.

Shelby Circuit Judge Charles O'Connor, who is hearing the case, has made no decision on the question of permanent custody. O'Connor, citing the demands of judicial ethics, declined to discuss the case.

A judicial colleague in neighboring Johnson County said sometimes neither parent wins in a child custody battle.

``In some circumstances, extreme circumstances, a determination could be made that neither parent is a fit parent,'' said Circuit Judge Mark Loyd, who is not involved with the case.

If not extreme, the allegations in the Blackburns' divorce are at least unusual. Kathy Blackburn, through her mother-in-law and her attorney, has accused her husband of sexually molesting the children and even of suffocating one child.

Dan Blackburn denies the accusations and has not been charged with any crime.

His lawyer, in turn, claims Kathy joined a cult and made her accusations only after welfare workers found the children living in deplorable conditions.

In Marion County, Superior Court Judge James W. Payne said a case involving an Indianapolis woman who lost custody of her 10 children to the state proved especially costly.

``In hindsight, we've spent more than $1 million on at least five of those kids - apiece,'' Payne said.

State payments to foster families range from $13 to $17 a day for a child with no disabilities to as much as $70 a day for a child requiring an intensive treatment program.

The Blackburns served in Haiti from 1976 to 1987 as Christian missionaries. They adopted most of the children after they were abandoned at their doorstep.