Teen father seeks custody of baby

The Dallas Morning News

DICKINSON, Texas - A 17-year-old high school senior is fighting for custody of his baby daughter, who he says was placed for adoption without his knowledge.

"It's my responsibility," William Jardina, a student at Galveston County's Dickinson High School, told The Houston Post. "I love her. That's my baby. That's what's wrong with the world today - nobody knows who their parents are."

Mr. Jardina has filed a custody suit for Kara. He and Stacey Goss, 19, the baby's mother, are scheduled for a Sept. 1 hearing to begin establishing Mr. Jardina's paternity.

Ms. Goss of Dickinson and her lawyers refused to discuss the case. A call to the Goss home was not immediately returned Thursday.

Mr. Jardina's tale echoes that of the Baby Jessica saga, where adoptive parents were forced to give up the child to the natural parents.

He said he wants his daughter to know who he is and insisted that he is not getting pressure from his family to take custody.

The couple met at Dickinson High School about two years ago and "fell in love two weeks later," Mr. Jardina said. He said he proposed marriage before and after the baby was born "to do the right thing."

When Ms. Goss delivered the baby, Mr. Jardina said he and Kaye Goss, Stacey's mother, were there to support her. He then drove Ms. Goss and the baby to his parents' home in Bacliff.

A few days later, he received legal papers requesting that he terminate his parental rights. He refused to sign, hired a lawyer and filed the custody suit.

But Ms. Goss already had worked out a private adoption, giving Kara to Donald and Christine Carr, of Tampa, Fla. Kara, now about a month old, lives with the couple there.

Heidi Cox, attorney for the Gladney Center, one of the state's largest adoption agencies, said that in private adoptions, Texas law allows parents up to 60 days to change their minds.

Caught in the middle are the Carrs, who say they already love Kara as their own.

Christine Carr, a University of Houston graduate who has quit her job at a brokerage firm to care for Kara, told the newspaper that she and her husband have tried to adopt another child. A contested adoption was the last thing they wanted.

"I feel terrible for them," she said of the Jardinas. "I was hoping it wouldn't come to this."

Mrs. Carr said the couple had not decided whether they will attend next week's hearing.

Zana Jardina said her son was served papers July 9 asking him to relinquish parental rights so the Carrs could adopt the baby when she was born.

"William said no all along," she said, describing her first grandchild, whom she saw only once when the baby was 2 days old, as "precious, blond, a chubby little thing," who looks like her son and Goss.

Donald Carr would not comment on the legal details of the case. His attorney did not return telephone calls Thursday.

Zana Jardina said she and her husband, who found out Goss was pregnant 12 days before the baby's birth, are willing to help their son rear Kara. They support his efforts to gain custody.

Christian Carr, who quit her job at a brokerage firm to care for the baby, told The Houston Post she and her husband love Kara as their own, and feel terrible for Jardina and his family.

"I was hoping it wouldn't come to this," Christine Carr told the Post.

She said she and her husband have not decided whether they will attend Wednesday's hearing.

William Jardina said he finishes his high school at-home study program today and will receive his diploma soon. He said during a telephone interview from Texas that he never gave his permission for Kara to be put up for adoption.

"In July, I told Stacey, "This ain't going to happen.' " he said, recalling how he spent the night in the hospital with Goss the Saturday Kara was born and took the two home from the hospital.

Jardina, who runs heavy equipment for his father's gravel company, said that one month ago, a Texas attorney for the Carrs called and asked if he would like to meet a couple from Florida there to get the baby.

He said he told the attorney he did not agree to give up the baby.

"The next thing I know, they were at home [in Tampa] with my baby," Jardina said.

Jardina said he thought Goss decided to give the baby up for adoption when she was pregnant, but changed her mind when they talked about getting married.

They were supposed to be married the week the baby was taken to Florida, he said.

Goss, of Dickinson, Texas, and her attorneys have refused to discuss the case.