It had been three years since her fourth child was born, but Paula Johnson had no idea how her world was about to turn upside down when the father of her daughter decided he was not going to continue paying child support because he claimed she was not his baby.
After having three sons, having a little girl was an exciting experience for Paula. “It was an awesome feeling, you know? This is my daughter finally, after three boys. It was a great feeling.” But when her daughter was three years old, she filed for full custody. That’s when things turned for the worst. Paula was made to take a paternity test to find prove that little Callie was, in fact, his daughter. But the results that came back confirmed the worst. He was not Callies father.
It was worse than that
As if Paula needed any more horrifying news, the tests showed another shocking discovery. It turned out that Paula was not the biological mother of Callie either! Of course, questions filled the mother’s mind, how could this be? She decided the best step was to hire an attorney and approach the hospital, The University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville.
Soon, it was realized that on the day Callie was born, June 29, 1995, another baby girl was born too. 18-year-old Kevin Chittum and his 16-year-old girlfriend Whitney celebrated the birth of their daughter, Rebecca. The unthinkable happened and the two babies were switched in a horrific mistake.
Sadly, before Paula could even tell the other couple what had happened both Kevin and Whitney died in a tragic car accident, never knowing that their daughter had been switched at birth. She also expressed her anger about what transpired.
“I’m angry because I don’t have a relationship with my biological child. And, I’m angry at the hospital because the only thing I ever asked was them to apologize,” she said. “I’m angry that Kevin and Whitney aren’t here to see what a beautiful child she is and how much she’s grown.”
Read: Woman Finds Out She Isn’t the Biological Mom of Her 3 Kids – a Short Story
Fighting for her daughter
Of course, Paula wanted to get her daughter back. With the unfortunate passing of her other parents, she thought that would be easy. However, the parents of both Whitney and Kevin fought her on that and won. However, both families were given visitation rights. Paula made sure her daughter, Callie, knew the truth from the get-go. Paula also sued the University of Virginia Medical Center for $31 million and settled for $1.25 million.
“I’ve always taught her from day one they are her parents, you know. She was born in Whitney’s belly, and she was born in my heart.”
The Girls are much older now
Callie Johnson was interviewed by Rob Cardwell when she was 18, she says that she doesn’t know what she’s missing and to her, Paula is her mother.
“The big question everyone always asks me is ‘Would you prefer your parents still be alive or passed? I don’t know what I’m missing so in a sense, I do feel more sorry for Rebecca, because she doesn’t know her biological mom.”
But, how could the hospital have made such a terrible mistake?
The hospital did not want to speak about the incident, but some people working in other maternity wards in the country were happy to share their thoughts on what happened and how it could have been avoided. Director of Women’s and Children’s Service at Henrico Doctors’ Hospital Judy Matthews says that it was a massive wake-up call to every other maternity hospital out there. Security and other measures have been improved in many hospitals to ensure this sort of thing never happens again.
“It was very upsetting. It put everyone on guard ever since. Technology plays a role, but you also want to be very sure that all of your other procedures are in place. You can’t rely on one system to protect our babies”
Keep Reading: Mother and child reunion: They had looked for each other for decades. A DNA test reconnected them
Sources
- “SWITCHED AT BIRTH: The mistake that changed maternity wards.” WTVR. Scott Wise , Rob Cardwell. November 11, 2013
- “As Paula and Carlton fought for custody, DNA showed their baby girl belonged to neither of them.” MamaMia. Helen Vnuk. February 6, 2021.