Families of Babies Switched at Birth Experience Years of Drama and Anguish but Don’t Regret a Thing

Having a baby is the highlight of some people’s lives. In this case, it completely changed two couple’s lives forever when the hospital made a drastic mistake. If that wasn’t bad, things just got worse and worse for the situation with unimaginable twists of fate. How do the families feel now, 24 years later, about the baby switch?

The Fateful Day

June 29th was a fateful day, but not for the reason these new mothers thought. Paula Johnson went into labor on June 29th, 1995 to give birth to her first daughter, Callie. She was planning on being a single mother. 18-year-old Kevin Chittum and 16-year-old Whitney went into the same hospital to deliver their first daughter, Rebecca. Both families didn’t know each other, and they were excited to begin their new lives as parents. They both weren’t expecting the true outcome of this hospital visit…

Taking The Test

Labors went smoothly for both moms and they were able to take their babies home with no problems. Three years went by before things got bad. Paula’s daughter’s father asked for a paternity test. He wasn’t convinced that she was his, and he needed to make sure. Things between the two were extremely volatile for a while, that Paula decided to concede and get the test although she knew that he was her father. When the test came back, it turns out that he was not the father, but the rest of the results shocked everyone involved…

Horrifying Twist

As it turns out, he wasn’t the father because Paula wasn’t the mother. The test came out negative for both parents. They needed answers. She immediately got in contact with the hospital and explained her situation. She wanted to figure out where her actual daughter was, and what happened? While they were figuring this out, an unthinkable tragedy struck…

Things Got Worse

On the same day that this was all being figured out, in fact, only four hours before the doctors tried to break the news, Whitney and Kevin were involved in a horrible car accident. It was a rainy day when the couple and four other family members hydroplaned on a busy highway and crashed into a tractor-trailer.

This situation just got 100 times harder. Everyone in the car that day was all killed. They left Rebecca behind as well as their own six-month-old daughter, Lindsey. Once word reached Paula, she was devastated for the family. This situation just got a whole lot harder, and she knew it. She just didn’t know how horrible it was about to get.

Custody Battle

It was now 1999, only a year after the deaths of Whitney and Kevin. Paula wanted to meet her daughter and for their family to meet Callie. Things got tricky when their family refused anything to do with Paula. She ended up suing for custody of Rebecca. It was tricky, and turned sour quickly. Whitney’s parents were not ready to give up Rebecca, and they didn’t care to see Callie, who was their actual blood. This turned into a three-year-old suit.

The Courts Rule…

During this harsh battle, the suit got major coverage and much of the country was watching in awe. This was such a rare case… What could possibly be the outcome? The court ended up ruling in favor of Whitney and Kevin’s family. They felt that the children should stay with the families that raised them as that would be easiest for the girls. After the legal battle was over, the girls would be six years old. Their most impressionable years were over and they were with the family that they should be with. The court did think that they should keep in touch, but would they?

Holding The Hospital Accountable

Alongside the custody battle, Paula also decided to sue the hospital. She wanted to make them accountable for this life-altering mistake. She ended up suing the University of Virginia Medical Center for $31 million in damages and ended up settling for $1.25 million. No one person was held accountable, which everyone was upset with.

Wake Up Call

The hospital has never given an official statement or ever formally spoke on the case. That doesn’t mean that measures weren’t implemented to make sure this doesn’t happen again. The Director of Women’s and Children’s Service at Henrico’s Doctors’ Hospital out about the matter. She claimed that maternity wards everywhere knew that this was a wakeup call and have taken extra steps and precautions to review their procedures and safeguards.

Baby switches are extremely rare. In the past 85 years, there have only been a handful of accidental baby switches all around the world. According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, 132 babies have been abducted from maternity centers since 1983.

They Tried To Get Along

Now that everything was behind them in legal terms, the families did their best to get along for the girls. They tried to do weekly visitations so that the girls could get used to their biological families and create a bond. Eventually, the girls grew tired of the trips and didn’t care to do them anymore.

It Wasn’t Working

These families genuinely didn’t get along. They would get into petty arguments about the case and old fights, making things uncomfortable. The girls were tired and the tensions were high, so they mutually decided to stop the visits. Paula was never able to bond with Rebecca.

Tension and Anger Years Later

“I’m angry because I don’t have a relationship with my biological child. I’m angry at the hospital because the only thing I ever asked was them to apologize. I’m angry that Kevin and Whitney aren’t here to see what a beautiful child [Callie] is and how much she’s grown,” Paula emotionally tells WTVR. This is not an easy case and never has been. Now, the girls are old enough to tell their sides of the story…

Mom and Daughter

Callie and Paula call each other their best friends. “She always has been,” Callie says. “And I can honestly say that.” They’ve gone through thick and thin together, but they truly feel that they were meant for each other. Paula has always been open and honest about the situation with Callie. “I’ve always taught her from day one they are her parents, you know. She was born in Whitney’s belly and she was born in my heart,” Paula says.

How Is Everything Now?

“The big question everyone always asks me is, ‘Would you prefer your parents still be alive or passed? I don’t know what I’m missing so in a sense, I do feel more sorry for Rebecca because she doesn’t know her biological mom,” Callie says.  

No Contact

Callie has chosen not to have any contact with her biological family. She loves Paula and loves the life that they have together. She says that she is going to continue living her life the way she has only ever known it, and that she’s happy. She doesn’t know her sister nor her grandparents, but she has no intention of reaching out to them.

Callie has grown up like any normal kid. She plans to go to culinary school after she graduates from high school with the ultimate goal of opening a bakery. She eventually wants to write a tell-all book about her story.

Rebecca and her side of the family have kept mum about the situation. A local news station posted the story with Paula and Callie’s interviews, and Rebecca actually commented on the post which was her first ever statement. “Actually, I’m not sad it happened. I’m pretty glad it happened. I wouldn’t go back and change a thing.” Rebecca’s story gets even weirder…

She Finally Speaks Out

It took a while for Rebecca to finally tell her side of the story. Rebecca did not want to have a relationship with her mother, but she currently lives with Paula’s ex-boyfriend… Rebecca’s father. If that’s not weird enough, Whitney’s sister Pam got married to Rebecca’s father in 2001, keeping the families together in a weird twist of fate. They raised Rebecca, Whitney and Kevin’s other daughter Lindsey, and three of their own sons together.

Bizarre Twist

Carlton, Rebecca’s father, was determined to have a relationship with his daughter, especially since Whitney and Kevin had passed. He was the one to drive the girls between the homes to meet the families on the weekend. After spending all of that time doing so, he and Pam fell for each other. Rebecca calls Pam ‘mom’ and writes on Facebook: “I love my mom to death. You eventually find out that it’s the people who love and who take care of you, not necessarily the ones who give birth to you. Love you mom.”

Rebecca’s Plans

Rebecca lives in Buena Vista, Virginia and had just graduated high school. She was attending a community college and living her life just the way she wanted to. There is obviously some tension between the families still, but they are all better kept apart.

This is a bizarre story with a bunch of twists and a weird ending, but a happy one! After a long time, it finally seems that everyone involved is happy with their lives. These interviews were back in 2013, and now they would be 23 years old living their best lives.