Custody tug of war for baby Kara on hold
A hearing is reset when a judge backs away from the battle for the 5-week-old.
WILLIAM MARCH and KAREN HAYMON LONG
The Tampa Tribune
TAMPA - A legal battle over a 5-week-old baby's adoption by a Tampa couple stalled for at least two weeks Tuesday because a judge excused herself from the case.
William Jardina, 17, of San Leon, Texas, had hoped to begin the process of winning his daughter back in a hearing scheduled for today in Galveston.
While the complex legal battle over her fate remains on hold, baby Kara remains with the prospective adoptive parents, Donald and Christine Carr of Tampa.
The Carrs say they intend to try to prove that Jardina doesn't have the right to assert parenthood over baby Kara. Even if he is the biological father, their attorneys may argue, he didn't play a substantial role in the pregnancy and birth.
Jardina and his family are determined to prove not only that he is the biological father, but is willing and able to support the child he and his high school sweetheart, Stacy Goss, conceived.
The hearing was rescheduled for Sept. 15 when family court Judge Susan Olsen removed herself from the case. Court officials couldn't explain the reason for her action late Tuesday, and Olsen couldn't be reached for comment. A visiting judge will hold the hearing instead.
Both sides say they are eager for Jardina to take a blood test to establish paternity. There's never been any suggestion that anyone but Jardina was the father of the child, said his mother, Zana Jardina.
"We'll ask that the court de- mand a blood test by all three of them," she said.
Zana Jardina said she's not overly concerned about the delay, but a similar case involving an Iowa baby came to her mind. In that case, the biological and adoptive parents fought a 2�- year court battle until the baby was returned to the biological parents.
"Let's hope that doesn't happen," she said. "We don't want it to drag out in court. We don't want the baby to be at an age where it could affect her."
But simply establishing biological parenthood won't convince the Carrs to give up Kara, said Anthony Marchese, their attorney.
"If you have ever seen an adoptive couple bond with a child, if you have ever seen them hold a child, you wouldn't ask that question," Marchese said.
The Carrs obtained Kara from her mother a few days after her July 24 birth, without Jardina's knowledge and against his expressed wishes, Jardina said. He said he and Stacy were engaged, but she was living with her parents at the time.
Even if he proves he's the biological father, the Carrs will argue that he was not involved enough in the pregnancy to qualify legally as the father, Marchese said.
"If he had acknowledged he was the father by helping before the baby came, by putting his name on the birth certificate, there was no need to prove all this in court," Marchese said.
Goss was "a pregnant girl with an out-of-wedlock pregnancy, trying to decide what's best for herself, and her baby," Marchese said. "Where was he?"
The Jardinas say William supported her as best he could, considering they weren't living together, and objected when he learned she was considering giving the baby up for adoption.
His name isn't on the birth certificate because Stacy Goss refused to put it there on the day of the birth, the Jardinas said.
The couple remained engaged and saw each other frequently during her pregnancy, despite occasional arguments, Zana Jardina said. William intended to marry her and set up a family.
The Jardinas told Goss and her parents before the birth that they would pay any medical expenses, and made the same offer in registered letters afterward, they said. They say the Gosses refused, saying their insurance covered it.
The Carrs have refused requests for interviews. Their attorneys say they already love Kara as their own.
William Jardina said he will do "whatever it takes, if it takes 10 years," to get the baby back.
Marchese won't attend the hearing since he isn't licensed in Texas. But he said the Carrs' Texas attorney will argue that the case should be heard in Florida courts.
Under Florida law, a father who doesn't provide financial or psychological support to a woman during her pregnancy in effect gives up his parental rights.
Marchese said that law is based on a case he took to the Florida Supreme Court in 1989, which led to a statute he helped write in 1991. He said if necessary, he and the Texas attorneys will seek to have the same precedent set in Texas in this case.
The Jardinas say William's paternity should be decided in Texas, where he and the baby's mother live and where the baby was born. He has refused requests from the Carrs to relinquish his rights.
Despite his youth, William is mature, holds a responsible job in his father's successful gravel business and is ready to start a family with their help, say his parents, Chuck and Zana Jardina, who also have three younger children.