Family Torn After Daughter Gives Child Up for Adoption

Loretta Andrew says she has always been a peacemaker, not a fighter.

But for the past four months, Andrew and her husband William have been embroiled in an unusual and bitter adoption dispute that pits the Shadow Hills couple against their 18-year-old daughter, Cindy.

The case centers on Cindy Andrew’s 1 1/2-year-old child, Griffin Michael Andrew. After she gave the boy up for adoption in April, her parents joined forces with the child’s father, Michael Joseph Turner, in an attempt to get legal custody of him.

Turner, 20, and Cindy Andrew never married. Cindy was able to give the boy up for adoption without Turner’s approval because Turner never sought to establish legally that he is the boy’s father.

The battle began when Cindy Andrew took Griffin from her parents’ house, where they had been living, and asked an adoption agency to place her son with a new family. Cindy’s parents said she did not tell them or Turner of her plans.

On the same day, they said, Andrew moved in with her new boyfriend, who owns a video store and lives with his parents in Shadow Hills.

Loretta Andrew, 40, said she was hysterical when she learned that her daughter had put the child up for adoption. “All she would tell us was, ‘You’ll get over it.’ I thought, ‘Oh boy, is she mistaken.’ ”

The Andrews are backing Turner in a paternity suit he filed to establish that he is Griffin’s father. The purpose of the lawsuit, in which the Andrews have agreed to testify on Turner’s behalf, is to enable Turner to legally adopt Griffin.

Cindy Andrew and the adoptive parents, meanwhile, have petitioned in court to deny Turner’s parental rights. The lawsuits, pending in Glendale Municipal Court, will determine whether the adoptive parents will be able to retain custody of the child. The next hearing in the matter is Aug. 28.

Both Cindy Andrew and the adoptive parents, whose identity has been kept secret, declined through their attorneys to comment. The attorneys would not answer questions about the case.

The Los Angeles County Department of Children’s Services has not approved Griffin’s adoption by the couple. A waiting period during which the agency investigates proposed adoptive parents is routine, and the lawsuits have stalled the process.

‘We Love Her’

“I don’t know how it got to this point,” William Andrew, a brakeman for Union Pacific Railroad, said about the legal battle over his grandson. “Cindy is our daughter and we love her . . . but under the circumstances, we can’t just act like nothing has happened.”

Loretta Andrew, a secretary for a construction company, said she is afraid that her daughter does not understand the consequences of her decision. “I don’t think she realizes how much she will miss her son down the road. Now she might say, ‘Gosh, my Mom and Dad love Griffin more than me.’ But it’s because of her that we love him, and she can’t see that.”

Both Turner and the Andrews said they are still unsure about Cindy’s motive for giving her child up for adoption. “It just happened out of the dark,” Turner said.

Turner said Cindy Andrew had asked him months before she took the child if he would sign papers giving up his legal rights to Griffin, but he refused. “I was leaning toward the idea of letting her parents adopt the baby,” he said.

In fact, Cindy Andrew asked her parents when Griffin was 4 months old if they would take full responsibility for the child and they agreed, Loretta Andrew said. She said she talked with her daughter about making the arrangement legal, but Cindy said that would not be necessary.

‘I Was His Mother’

“From the time the baby was 4 months old to the time he was 15 months old, I had full control,” Loretta Andrew said. “I fed him. I bathed him. I took him to the doctor. . . . I was his mother.”

William Andrew said his daughter might have been unhappy that her mother took over responsibility of raising her son. “Everybody was happy with the situation the way it was,” he said. “The only person . . . unhappy was Cindy. I think she felt guilty. She would come home and see her mom taking care of Griffin. She didn’t want the responsibility, and she thought this was a way out, by giving Griffin up for adoption.”

Loretta Andrew said that when her daughter became pregnant, she and Cindy discussed adoption but decided against it.

The mother said the subject was brought up again about four months after the baby was born. “I said, ‘Cindy, it’s too late. You made your decision,’ ” she said.

The Andrews said their daughter began talking about adoption about the same time that she began seeing her new boyfriend.

Fishing Trip

Two weeks before she took Griffin, Cindy Andrew asked her mother if she and her boyfriend could take the boy on a fishing trip. Loretta Andrew said that when the day of the trip arrived, she dressed the toddler and helped them get ready to go.

That was the last time she saw her grandson, Andrew said. When she returned from a shopping trip that day, Andrew found a note her daughter had left telling her about the adoption.

“I was just stunned,” Andrew said. “We called a child-abuse hot line, the police, everybody we could think of.”

She and Turner went to an attorney. “We’ve gotten closer through all this because we have a common goal: to get Griffin back,” she said.

She said that although Turner never provided financial support for the boy, he has visited him regularly and has established a close bond with the child.

“Griffin knew who his Dad was,” Andrew said. “You can’t deny a father his rights because he didn’t pay any money. He wasn’t asked to pay. I never asked the mother to pay anything as well.”

Father Bought House

Turner, who installs security alarm systems, said he recently purchased a house in North Hollywood and feels confident that he can take care of his son. “Financially, I can afford it,” Turner said. “I can’t see how anybody in their right mind could take a child away from a family that loves him and can take care of him.”

Loretta Andrew said she hoped that she would be able to share custody of Griffin with Turner, an arrangement Turner said he would accept. If Turner is not granted custody, Andrew said, she would file her own adoption petition.

In the meantime, the Andrews and Turner said the hardest part is not knowing where Griffin is and not being able to visit him. Loretta Andrew said she hopes that her daughter will realize soon that Griffin belongs with his family.

“My hope is to get Griffin back and that someday--it won’t be soon--Cindy will say, ‘Thank you’ for fighting for him,” Loretta Andrew said. “That is my hope. But in reality, I don’t know.”