European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 23, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Jodie Pope can to get custody of  Case for Solomon adoptive infant switched in hospitably Christopher Sullivan associated press Melvin has two mothers. Both want to keep him one Edith Moore wept Quot Large tears Quot of Joy when a judge ruled this month that she and her husband could keep the boy they adopted As an infant eight years ago. The other Mother Jodie Pope actually gave birth to Melvin. She lost him when he was switched in the Hospital with another Newborn boy who was being placed for adoption. She is appealing the custody order that gives her visitation rights Only. Quot for me to carry him for All those months and to experience him inside of my stomach and be Happy about it. That s just something i can t forget Quot mrs. Pope said. Quot they Laid him up Here on my Chest and i looked at him and they took him away. And that s All i keep seeing in my mind. A Quot i want to get to know my son and raise him Quot she said her Youthful Brown ringlets framing sad eyes that look older than her 27 years. Quot and i think i could be a Good Mother to him Quot mrs. Pope a waitress in Griffin a has raised another son a Cameron the boy she was Given by mistake. After that mistake was revealed she adopted Cameron. But she said she can t abandon her quest for the child who came from her womb. Quot he s my son Quot she said Quot and i never gave him up Quot on oct. 7,1983, Jodie Pope and another woman gave birth to sons just hours apart at or item Spalding Hospital in Griffin a Small farming and manufacturing town an hour or so South of Atlanta. The other infant was to be placed for adoption with the Moores. But before mrs. Pope and the other new Mother were released the Hospital accidentally switched their babies adding to the complexity of the Case was a racial difference Between the infants mrs Pope and her then husband Are Eugene and Edith Moore retain custody of the boy mistakenly switched by the Hospital at birth. White the other baby s biological father was Black and his Mother White. State adoption authorities hoped to place the latter child with a mixed race couple. Mrs. Moore is White and her husband Eugene is Black. Although Jodie Pope said Cameron the boy she took Home was no Darker skinned than some of her relatives who have american Indian blood her husband came to doubt that the child was his. Their marriage foundered. But blood tests conducted As part of the divorce proceedings confirmed something More not Only was he not the father of the boy by then 5 years old but she was not the Mother through tortuous Legal mane vering to open Hospital and adoption records is. Pope finally found her biological son Melvin being raised by the Moores a military couple now based in fort Knox by. No one suggests they Aren t excellent adoptive parents. A for Over eight years the Moores have loved nurtured and reared the boy As their son Quot said judge Frank m. Eldridge of Fulton county Superior court in his oct. 3 ruling which left Melvin in the Moores custody but gave mrs. Pope Liberal visitation rights including two months in the summer a Spring vacation and parts of the thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. The judge acknowledged that mrs. Pope is Quot the biological natural and Legal Mother of the child Quot but he said of the Moores Quot they have Given freely of their time emotions and material possessions to support this boy As their son. To the boy and to the Moores there exists a bonding and Lan Lial relationship that no court can undo Quot even mrs. Pope said she considers Eugene Moore a very Nice Man Quot and despite their difficult relationship she and Edith Moore embraced when they met earlier this Yeai it was Mother s Day mrs. Pope s first visit with Melvin since he Lay momentarily on her Chest As a Newborn Quot me and Edith have talked a lot on the phone. I be said i really wish we could be friends Quot mrs. Pope said. Quot i just told her Melvin is my child and i m his Mother. And i should be the one to raise  her lawyer Thomas Malone said she cannot Quot As a conscientious Parent Quot abandon her quest for Melvin on the basis of Quot Blind Faith in the  he added Quot if we take this to the Georgia supreme court we might As Well take it to the United states supreme court. A there is no precedent anywhere Quot for a biological Mother who did not give up parental rights to lose a child in such a Case he said. Quot i done to see How we can  on the other Side however the Moores believe Melvin would be the loser. Quot Mommy i Don t want to leave Quot he has told mrs. Moore according to the Mooresr lawyer David Gray of Radcliff by the Moores declined to be interviewed for this Story. Quot the Only argument that mrs. Pope has is i m the natural Parent give him Back to me but these people Are a bit More than third parties Quot Gray said. Gray was surprised by judge Eldridge s ruling but praised it Quot if you were Solomon sitting there you could t have done  a bring me a sword a King Solomon stormed in the biblical Story of two mothers claiming the same Young son Quot Divide the living child in two and give half to the one and half to the  when one woman cried out that she d give up her claim rather than see the child harmed Solomon awarded him to her twentieth Century Justice is More complicated already mrs. Pope the movies and the two boys Melvit and Cameron have won a $900,000 settlement from the Hospital where the switch occurred damage claims Are still pending against the state agencies that handled the adoption a and which allegedly failed to notice a discrepancy in Melvin s blood Type on Birt Page 14 abcs the stars and stripes saturday november 23, 1991