It is an exciting time in our lives when we have children. That is certainly how Paula Johnson felt when she gave birth to a baby girl, her fourth child.
Paula had already given birth to three sons so having a newborn girl was really something special to her. As a single mother, she felt as if her family was now complete when Callie was born on June 29, 1995.
She described it as being an awesome feeling but the feeling didn’t last. You see, three years later, she had a disagreement with her partner and had to file for full custody and child support.
Her partner said that Callie was not his daughter in order to avoid paying child support, so the courts ordered a paternity test. When the test came back, it showed that he was not the father.
That was completely unexpected, but perhaps what was even more unexpected is that the paternity test showed that Paula wasn’t the little girl’s mother.
It seems as if there had been a mistake made by someone at the hospital after her daughter was born. They switched the babies out at the University of Virginia Medical Center after a 16-year-old girl, Whitney, gave birth to Rebecca.
The two little girls were at the same hospital at the same time and they were switched somehow and sent home with the wrong family.
This was already a difficult situation but it got even worse after Whitney and her husband, along with relatives and friends all died in a car accident. They never knew that their biological daughter was actually Callie.
Paula sued for custody of her biological daughter, Rebecca, after the car accident. The parents of the deceased couple fought, and more than three years of feuding took place.
The courts eventually said that the girls would remain with the families that raised them. A $31 million lawsuit was also filed against the University of Virginia Medical Center, and it was eventually settled for 1.25 million.
Understandably, Paula is upset that she will never have a relationship with her biological child. She’s also angry at the hospital and at the couple who died in the car accident because they never got to know their daughter.
