Father, Grandmother Seek Custody of Abused Boy : Child welfare: Battle is brewing among relatives to raise the severely injured 10-year-old, whose aunt faces abuse, torture charges.

The father and grandmother of a 10-year-old abuse victim said Wednesday that they each intend to fight for custody of the severely injured child, setting the stage for a possible conflict among relatives who are stepping forward to care for him.

“Right now, I want him with myself,” said Eulogia Hefling, the child’s grandmother, who added that the boy’s natural mother would also like to regain custody and move in with Hefling so the two can raise him together.

But the boy’s father, who acknowledged that he allowed his son to live with Cynthia Medina, the woman authorities say committed the severe abuse, said he wants the boy back.

“I wanted what was best for him, but now I think it’s with me,” said the father, whose name is not being used to protect the child’s identity. Prosecutors have charged Medina, the child’s aunt, with four counts of child abuse and one count of torture--the first time the latter charge has been filed in Orange County. They say Medina abused the boy over the last year, applying heated knives to his tongue and whipping him with electrical cords.

Prosecutors allege that the most severe abuse occurred Sept. 7, when, they say, Medina anally penetrated the child with a souvenir baseball bat, allegedly because he was playing with her marijuana cigarettes. The child was so severely injured that he had to be fitted with a colostomy bag.

Medina’s defense attorney said he believes his client was insane when she administered some of the abuse but insists the boy’s internal injuries were caused by accident.

The boy remains in good condition at Children’s Hospital of Orange County and has been showered with gifts from concerned residents. County officials expect the boy will be released early next week and say they are searching for a foster family who can take him until permanent arrangements are made. Hefling said she is still reeling from the allegations against Medina and cannot reconcile them with what she knows about her daughter.

“Cynthia has a loving personality. She is a very giving, friendly person,” said Hefling, who lives in Orange, not far from the home where Medina lived with the boy after his own mother gave him up because she could not care for him. “I just can’t believe what they are saying about her. She loved that boy like her own son.”

Medina “cared so much for the boy and wanted to give him a stable home. He wasn’t abused. He was well cared for,” said Hefling, who said she is also distraught that authorities have refused her requests to visit her grandson. “Everybody is just so, so shocked by this.”

Custody arrangements for the boy have always been informal, relatives said. The boy’s father said that he and his wife--who is Hefling’s daughter and Medina’s sister--raised their son together until divorcing in 1989.

The boy’s father said Wednesday that his wife had primary custody--though he frequently visited the boy--until 1991, when she decided she could no longer care for him. The father said the child lived with him until September, 1992, when, he said, the boy went back to live with his mother. The mother subsequently left him to live with Medina, the father said.

Hefling said the boy’s mother did not want to comment on the situation.

Hefling and the boy’s father agree that Medina repeatedly expressed her desire to keep the child, insisting she was in the best position to raise him. The boy’s father said he did not discover until earlier this summer that his son was living with Medina.

“I went straight there to get him,” the boy’s father said. “But he said he was happy and he was in Little League and doing well. He liked being with his cousin.”

He said Medina often refused to let him see the boy, but Hefling disagreed. “The father has always known where the boy is but made little effort to come see him or support him financially,” she said.

The boy’s father said he allowed Medina to keep his son because his own life was unstable. Shortly after his separation from his wife, the boy’s father was hospitalized for 33 days after shooting himself--an event he said he cannot remember.