Mother in Switched-Babies Case Wants What’s ‘Best’ for Them

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. —  Repeatedly breaking down in tears, the mother of one of two little girls apparently switched at birth said Tuesday she just wants to make sure both children are happy. “Whatever is best for these two children . . . whether it be with their biological parents or whether it be with the parents that are just raising them,” Paula Johnson said, her voice cracking.

Johnson discovered last month after DNA testing for a paternity suit that the baby she took home from the University of Virginia hospital was not her own. Hospital officials now believe a couple from Buena Vista--Kevin Chittum and Tamara Whitney Rogers--took home Johnson’s baby in June 1995, while she took theirs.

Johnson, 30, has been raising Callie Marie Johnson while the other couple had been bringing up Rebecca Grace Chittum. The hospital has not said conclusively that Johnson is Rebecca’s mother, or that Rogers was Callie Marie’s mother.

Chittum and Rogers were killed in a car crash July 4, and their parents have been caring for Rebecca.

The grandparents have said they are not convinced that a switch occurred and want to share custody of the child. They have refused to allow a DNA test. Johnson, her former boyfriend and their attorney said at the news conference Tuesday they hope to work out custody and visitation arrangements with the family raising Rebecca.