Father May Drop Fight for Custody

A San Bernardino man who lost a state Supreme Court bid to regain custody of his son from an Irvine couple who have adopted the child said Friday that he was uncertain whether he’ll continue his efforts to get the boy back.

“I’m going to take this time and just re-evaluate the whole situation to see if I’m up to it mentally,” said Michael Upshaw, 19. “You know, this is a lot of pressure behind me now. I’ve had it since I was 16. A whole lot of pressure.”

The Supreme Court, overturning two lower courts, ruled Thursday that Upshaw was not entitled to temporary custody of the child while the validity of the adoption by Gayle and Glenn White of Irvine is being tested in court.

“Some people take the easy way out and pass it off to somebody else,” Upshaw said in an interview at his attorney’s office. “But I chose to stick with it. But I’m not going to comment on what I’m going to do next because I’m not sure myself.”

Mother Agreed to Adoption

His attorney, Winfield S. Payne III of Moreno Valley, said Friday that because of the Supreme Court’s order, the matter of temporary custody will be reheard in Orange County Superior Court regardless of whether Upshaw chooses to pursue it.

The baby, named Eric at birth but renamed Christopher by the Whites, was born in April, 1983, out of a casual affair between Upshaw, then 16, and a 12-year-old girl. When the infant was 3 months old, the mother agreed to allow him to be adopted by the Whites, who have one other adopted child.

Upshaw, who protested the adoption from the beginning, said Friday that he had done so because “I was looking forward to having a child and starting a family. I fought for it because I believed in it.”

Saying that he not only had fought against the girl’s intention to have the baby adopted, but before that her plans to have an abortion, Upshaw contended Friday that if it had not been for “my feeling strong about my son and keeping him alive, the Whites wouldn’t have the baby, there’d have been no court, there’d be no problems.”