Tampa couple sends baby home to father

WILLIAM MARCH and KAREN HAYMON LONG

The Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Nine-week-old baby Kara was at the home of her father and grandparents in San Leon, Texas, this week after being returned by the Tampa couple who had hoped to adopt her.

Neither the couple, Donald and Christine Carr, nor the grandparents, Chuck and Zana Jardina, would say how or when the baby came back to Texas.

The Carrs decided last week to return Kara to William Jardina, 17, the baby's natural father. With the backing of his family, he had refused repeated requests, beginning before the baby's birth, to relinquish his parental rights and allow the adoption.

The Jardinas say Stacy Goss, 19, William's former fiancee and the baby's mother, had placed the baby for the adoption without their knowledge or consent.

"I'm holding her right now. She looks great," Chuck Jardina, William's father, said during a telephone interview Wednesday night.

"She's a very happy baby," said Zana Jardina. "Happier than my own babies were." The Jardinas have three children besides William, the youngest age 3.

For the time being, the Jardinas said, William and Kara will live at his parents' home in San Leon, a village on Galveston Bay. William works for his father's successful gravel business.

Zana Jardina said the baby is sleeping six to nine hours each night and weighs 12� pounds.

"The first night she was here, she slept from 8:40 to 6:40 the next morning," she said. "Chuck and I wore out the carpet going in to check on her. She never batted an eye."

The Jardinas said the baby had just been to a pediatrician when they received her and that they were told she was in excellent health.

Donald Carr, a Marine Corps major at MacDill Air Force Base, and his wife, who formerly worked at a brokerage firm, continued to decline requests for interviews, as did Goss.

The Carrs said last week they decided to return the baby to prevent what could have been a long legal battle. They feared extended litigation could do emotional harm to the baby and all others involved.

The couple have told the Jardinas they had tried unsuccessfully to adopt a baby once before.

The Jardinas will change the baby's name from Kara Kaylene Goss to Kara Darlene Jardina. The Carrs also had planned to keep the name Kara.