MONTGOMERY
- Legal guardian Nancy Goodwin leaned in, kissed the 2-year-old in blue dinosaur overalls and with a mother's smile told him to be a good boy. Then she hugged his birth mother and watched as the gray '86 Oldsmobile Cutlass disappeared.
Letting him go on an overnight visitation, she said Wednesday, was more difficult emotionally than surviving the breast cancer and chemotherapy that left her sterile. But they would be back the next day, she reminded herself. Sunday, between 3 and 4 p.m.
She hasn't seen them since.
The search for Vivian Rogers, 28, of Minto Avenue, Hyde Park, and her son, Chase Lee Reed, was passed to the FBI Wednesday, after a Hamilton County grand jury indicted Ms. Rogers on a felony charge of interfering with the custody of a child. Montgomery police think Ms. Rogers has taken the boy back to her former home in Fort Worth, Texas.
The case has left law enforcement officials wading through the complicated maze of child custody statutes, of which Montgomery Sgt. Bruce Knowles said Wednesday: ''The law's black and white, but there's a heck of a lot of gray in the interpretation.''
The case has left Mrs. Goodwin, 42, and her husband, Ken, 36, skidding between panic and heartache. They had met Ms. Rogers on a Monday in April through a mutual friend. By the following Friday, Ms. Rogers approved Chase's spending the weekend with the Goodwins, who were startled by how aggressively the malnourished boy ate. The next Monday, Mrs. Goodwin recalled, Ms. Rogers called and said, ''Keep him.'' His first trip to a dentist resulted in bridge work. On May 12, they went to court to transfer custody. Eleven days later, Chase turned 2.
The Goodwins, who tried unsuccessfully to adopt a child previously, were ecstatic.
''You have to wonder why God puts you through these things,'' Mrs. Goodwin said, her voice breaking. ''With cancer, you know what you're dealing with. You can make up your mind what you're going to do. (She's been in full remission for two years.) This is harder. It's a child. It's Chase.''
The Goodwins will not cook a turkey today. Visits from church friends have been canceled. The Goodwins will wait by the phone. ''It's tearing us up,'' she said.
Hamilton County Probate Court Magistrate David Pfeiffer told the Enquirer that Ms. Rogers did not contest the custodial transfer of Chase to the Goodwins at a 20-minute hearing May 12. The Goodwins were accompanied by an attorney, which isn't required. Ms. Rogers was not. The parties signed papers required by the court.
The law requires a finding that the birth parent is unsuitable or unable to care for the child. Magistrate Pfeiffer ruled Ms. Rogers was unable, citing emotional problems. He emphasized there was no allegation of abuse against Ms. Rogers.
The Goodwins' unlimited legal guardianship status is regarded as a suspension, but not termination, of Ms. Rogers' parental rights. The Goodwins have Chase's birth certificate, on which no father is listed.
Guardianship is in effect until Chase is 18 and requires another hearing to overturn it, which Ms. Rogers has not pursued. Courts generally lean toward reuniting the birth mother and child, Magistrate Pfeiffer explained, but ''Vivian's recent behavior could be held against her.''
By contrast, adoption is a permanent transfer of parental rights. A birth parent must file a legal motion, typically within one year, to overturn an adoption, he said. In a foster care arrangement, the birth parent maintains custodial rights to the child.
Such cases are often heard in juvenile court. The Goodwins pursued the transfer in probate court because they envisioned a permanent adoption.
''My sympathy goes to both parties but especially the birth mother,'' Magistrate Pfeiffer said. ''She never got used to being without her child. But it was obvious the Goodwins very much cared for this boy.''
When they met, Ms. Rogers told the Goodwins she wanted a better life for Chase than she could provide. The arrangement seemed perfect. ''She could see him anytime,'' Ms. Goodwin said. And when she requested an overnight visitation, they were hesitant but agreed. She had been good so far.
But in retrospect, red flags emerge.
''When she took him (last weekend), she said, 'Does he have a coat?' '' Ms. Goodwin recalled. ''I said, 'Vivian, he has several coats. It's wintertime.''
Ms. Rogers didn't have a car seat, borrowing the Goodwins'. There is one more twist: as Chase's legal guardians, they are responsible for his safety.
''If anything, heaven forbid, happens to him, legal responsibility is at least partially with them,'' Magistrate Pfeiffer said.
Reminders of Chase fill the Goodwins' home: his favorite books, Curious George and Thomas the Tank Engine; his favorite toys, a stuffed Barney and a Mickey Mouse figure.
On the answering machine at her Hyde Park home, Ms. Rogers refers callers to her work number. When the Enquirer called the Victory Lady Fitness Center in Cherry Grove, a manager who declined to give her name said Ms. Rogers worked one day and never returned.
