Girl's mom, foster parent fight for custody

By Angie Moreschi

The twin sister of a 4-year-old boy starved and beaten in his adoptive home is now at the center of a custody battle.

Anthony Bars' twin sister, Knioya, also suffered abuse in the home of distant relatives who had adopted both children. After her brother died of neglect in January 2002, Knioya was returned to the foster home where she had lived for the first 15 months of her life.

Now that foster mom is fighting to keep the 6-year-old because her biological mother wants her, too.

"I need to see my daughter," said Marvetta Grimes, who gave birth to the twins in March 1997. "She needs to be with her mother -- with her family."

Grimes was a drug addict when she delivered the twins. When they were 3 days old, state officials placed them in the Indianapolis home of foster mother Florence Hurst.

Later, a Marion Superior Court judge terminated Grimes' parental rights, and the twins were adopted by L.B. and Latricia Bars. The Barses and their daughter were convicted last year in Anthony's death.

Grimes said she's been drug-free for more than four years since 1999, when her mother died, followed just months later by the deaths of her father and sister.

She now works at Seeds of Hope, a local drug rehabilitation center for women.

She has a home of her own and raises her sister's son while also paying support for two of her other children.

Grimes said she's trying to make up for her failings. She bought a headstone for Anthony's grave, which had been unmarked.

Now Grimes wants to be a part of her daughter's life. Although she hasn't seen Knioya since she was born, Grimes has set up a room in her Near-Northside home in hopes of getting her back.

"Look at me now," Grimes said. "I have everything. There's no reason for someone else to be raising my kids."

But Hurst, who's had Knioya back in her home for two years, said she has been the only mother the girl has ever known.

"She's got brothers and sisters here that she knows," Hurst said. "And they are her brothers and sisters, because that's what she calls them, and I am her mother.

"Three days after she was born, I was her mother, and I've never stopped being her mother."

Hurst had the twins until they were 15 months old and was in the process of adopting them when state workers abruptly moved them to the Barses' home.

An investigation by WTHR (Channel 13), The Indianapolis Star's news-gathering partner, found that the children were moved to the Barses' home even though L.B. Bars had a history of substantiated abuse with Child Protection Services and a criminal conviction in 1987 for whipping his daughter.

Hurst again is trying to adopt Knioya, who, Hurst says, is doing well but still suffers from the effects of the abuse she suffered in the Barses' home.

"She's a beautiful child, but she is my heart," Hurst said. "So, I hope they don't take her back away from me."

State law requires that the best interest of a child should carry the greatest weight in adoptions.

But this case is complicated by the fact that Grimes contends her parental rights were ended unfairly because she wasn't properly notified.

Grimes said her children's caseworker did not make sufficient efforts to contact her at the time. That same caseworker, Denise Moore, has been criminally charged with mishandling Anthony's adoption case.

Moore has said through her lawyer, Jack Crawford, that she is shocked by the charges and believes they are unfair.

After turning her life around, Grimes sued the state to get her parental rights reinstated but failed. After Anthony died, she tried again to get Knioya, who was called Latoya by the Barses.

"After what happened to my son, there can be no home on this Earth safer than mine," she said. "I wrote them a letter stating I would do whatever it takes, that I would readopt her, that I'll do anything. No one would talk to me."

James Payne, the county's juvenile court judge, said this was a tough case, but he would still give the foster mother an edge because she has bonded with Knioya. He is not handling the case.

"Can this mother, who's never had any contact with this child, love this child more than this parent who's raised this child?" he said. "I don't think so."

The decision could be made in May when the case is heard in the county's probate court.

"I made a mistake," Grimes said. "But I need my kids. They need me. I love them."

Hurst said she won't yield.

"She put the kids in these circumstances," she said. "You have to be in my shoes to understand all the things that these kids go through. I'm going to fight. I'm going to fight this time to keep her."