Boy at heart of court fight due to go to biological dad
10/31/2010The 3-year-old boy at the center of an interstate custody battle was scheduled to be brought to Swanton yesterday by his adoptive Indiana parents to live with his biological father.
The exchange was ordered after the Ohio Supreme Court decided earlier this month not to reconsider an earlier ruling that allowed Benjamin Wyrembek to have custody of his biological son, Grayson. The boy had been raised since birth by Jason and Christy Vaughn of Sellersburg, Ind.
When reached by phone early yesterday, Mr. Vaughn acknowledged that he was on his way to the Toledo area. He declined to comment further - including whether he was driving Grayson to Swanton per the court order - saying that both parties had been ordered not to speak to the media while the case was pending.
The Vaughns began the adoption process soon after the boy's birth mother signed a "permanent surrender of child" form on Nov. 1, 2007, at St. Luke's Hospital. Three days later, the woman's husband signed a surrender-of-custody form, listing his reason as "I am not the biological father."
That same month, Mr. Wyrembek signed up with Ohio's Putative Father Registry.
He also filed a petition in Lucas County Juvenile Court to establish paternity and obtain custody of the child. The petition since had been granted.
With its Oct. 7 decision, the Ohio Supreme Court voted 4-3 to lift the stay it had placed on other court orders in the case, including the order from juvenile court that required the Vaughns to turn Grayson over to Mr. Wyrembek in September.