PHONE BILL COUNTERS ADOPTION COUNSELOR'S TESTIMONY
Ted Bell
SACRAMENTO BEE
Attorney Brenda Russo, for the second day in a row Thursday, delivered a heavy blow in the Woodland trial of a young Davis couple trying to get their baby back from an adoption agency.
This time, Russo, who represents the couple, dug into her floppy black bag and produced an innocent-looking telephone bill.
Under Russo's questioning, Davis Crisis Pregnancy Center counselor Kathy Huntziker continued to insist that Lea Tyler Darrah, who had delivered her baby alone and unattended on the floor of her University of California, Davis, dormitory bathroom six days earlier, contacted her by telephone on April 20, 1991, to say she wanted to give the infant up for adoption.
Huntziker testified Thursday that in a 30-minute phone conversation that day, she extensively interviewed Lea Darrah, who had gone to San Diego to be with Matthew Darrah the day after the traumatic birth. Huntziker said she then covered all the options available to the woman and provided a long list of recommendations leading up to an agreement to meet her at the Davis train station.
After several times asking Huntziker if all that was possible within 30 minutes, Russo pulled out Matthew Darrah's telephone bill that indicated the conversation lasted only 10 minutes.
Huntziker replied that despite the limited time, she was sure she covered all the points.
Lea Darrah and the baby's father, Matthew Darrah, are suing the Children's Home Society of California and the CPC for the return of the baby they claim they were bullied into surrendering within 20 days of her birth.
The couple claims they never wanted adoption and contacted the CPC only for help in caring for the baby. They claim they were never given counseling, told of their rights or options and were simply shoved aside.
Lea Darrah has testified that when she called Huntziker she never mentioned adoption for baby Michelle and that she was ill, bleeding and unable to eat. Darrah said she sought advice from the CPC, which she contacted from an advertisement in the UCD campus newspaper.
Huntziker told the court earlier Thursday that she did not suggest Lea seek medical attention in San Diego because it did not sound as though she needed it.
On Wednesday, Russo elicited testimony from Children's Home Society Director Raymond Cheroske that he turned down the Darrahs' request to rescind the release document on the advice of Dee Heszler, the society's social worker who said the Darrah relinquishment was completely proper.