FLORIDA COUPLE, TEXAS MAN IN BATTLE OVER CUSTODY OF BABY

The Miami Herald

In another complex custody battle, baby Kara Goss is caught in a legal tug of war between a Florida couple and a Texas man who says he is her father and wants her.

"I hate to make them play King Solomon, but that's the way it is," Donald Carr said of the judges who will be asked to decide who should be Kara's parents -- he and his wife, Christine, who are trying to adopt Kara, or the young Texas man.

The Carrs, who live in Tampa, may have the odds against them in their attempt to adopt Kara, now a month old. William Jardina, 17, of San Leon, Texas, has said all along that he will not give her up.

"Your Tampa people are dead in the water," said University of Houston law professor Eugene Smith.

He said the situation is the same as the Baby Jessica case, in which a Michigan girl was returned to her biological parents last month after living most of her life with a couple that tried to adopt her.

"Under Texas law, which is going to govern this thing, the consent of the father of an illegitimate child is required," said Smith, who wrote the family code in Texas. "He would have rights in Texas, which is the place of the birth of a child, and in such of a situation, Florida would recognize Texas law.

"They have not the chance of a snowball in hell," Smith said.

The baby's mother, 19-year-old college student Stacey Goss of Dickinson, Texas, agreed to give Kara up for adoption before the baby was born.

An initial hearing was scheduled last week in the case filed by Jardina.

However, family court Judge Susan Olsen removed herself from the case, and it was reassigned to retired State District Judge L.J. Krueger. The hearing is now set for Sept. 15.

Since before the baby was born on July 24, Jardina has refused to sign legal papers relinquishing his parental rights.

In Tampa, the Carrs said their attorney has advised them not to talk to the media about the case. But they said they love Kara like a daughter and have done everything legally proper in their attempt to adopt her.

Carr is a major in the Marines at MacDill Air Force Base. His wife quit her job at a brokerage firm to take care of the baby. They are attempting to adopt her through Florida courts.

Tallahassee attorney Tann Hunt, who often handles adoptions and is active in The Florida Bar's Family Law Section, calls the situation "a great nightmare."

"If he told them all along, and they tried to adopt her, the word 'risk' doesn't cover it," she said. "Risk implies an element of winning against certain odds."

Jardina, who works for his family's gravel company near Houston, said he can provide for the baby. Zana Jardina, his mother, said she and her husband will help financially and she and one of her daughters would baby-sit while William is at work.

Jardina's mother said she and her husband called Goss' parents on July 13, the day after they learned Goss was pregnant, to offer to pay her medical expenses and help with other needs.

The Gosses told them their insurance would cover the medical bills, the Jardinas said.

After the baby was born, Zana Jardina said, her son sent Goss a certified letter telling her he would support the baby. She refused to accept the letter, she said.

Hunt said under Florida law, fathers who do not contribute financially or psychologically to a woman when she is pregnant, in essence forfeit parental rights.

"That's not the way it is in Texas," said Nancy Gibbons, manager of the Texas state program that licenses adoption agencies. She said a father has to sign over his rights for a child to be put up for adoption.

Thomas Oldham, another University of Houston law professor, said the Carrs could attempt to invoke Florida law by attempting to prove Kara is a Floridian, since she has lived most of her life here. The courts would have to decide.