Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 13, 1993 TAG: 9301130239
SECTION: VIRGINIA NOTE: BELOW PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUGLAS PARDUE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CLINTWOOD LENGTH: Medium
JUDGE ORDERS PROTECTIVE CARE FOR UNBORN CHILD
In what authorities say may be the first such decision in Virginia, a judge Tuesday ordered an unborn child placed in protective care to guard it from potential abuse from parents accused of trying to sell the nearly full-term boy for $20,000."It is very, very unusual to be dealing with an unborn child," Dickenson County Juvenile Court Judge Susan Bundy said. But, she said, "we're dealing with an emergency" because the child could be born at any time.
To protect the unborn child, Bundy said it was necessary to place the mother, 17, into a foster home where she can get court supervision and medical care. After the child is born, the court will maintain custody.
Bundy also ordered the woman's 8-month-old daughter, Victoria, placed in a foster home.
The mother, Stephanie Gail Owens, and father, James Ira Owens, 21, were arrested Saturday on charges of trying to sell both their daughter and unborn son through newspaper classified ads. Stephanie Owens is eight months pregnant.
They were arrested after undercover Dickenson County investigators went to the Owenses posing as a childless couple from Roanoke.
Sheriff's Investigator Ron Kendrick said that James Owens asked how much he thought an adoption agency would charge.
Kendrick said that when he replied he thought it would be $40,000, Owens told him "adoption agencies were licensed to sell kids."
Kendrick said that Owens then agreed to let him adopt the unborn boy after birth for $20,000. And, Kendrick said, Owens told him that if he didn't want to wait for the birth, "I could have the little girl for $25,000."
Owens sat through most of the three-hour hearing intensely chewing on his fingernails. He was ordered sent for psychiatric evaluation. Stephanie Owens used the back of her hand to wipe her nose and eyes for much of the hearing and clutched a pack of cigarettes in her other hand.
When the judge ordered her into custody, Stephanie Owens sobbed, "Why, why, why," and dropped her head to the table.
Bundy had no doubt as to why. After more than two hours of testimony, she said she had heard enough and ruled that both the 8-month-old girl and the unborn boy were abused and neglected.
The testimony Bundy heard came from several Dickenson County social services workers. They told her that they had received reports several months ago that the daughter had been burnt on her hand and a foot with cigarettes. And, social workers said, at one point the Owenses temporarily gave up custody of their daughter to another couple because of marital difficulties and concern that they might harm the child.
Testimony also indicated the social service agencies in Dickenson County could have taken action earlier, but didn't because social workers were trying to teach the couple parenting skills. Social workers testified that the couple often failed to participate in counseling sessions.
Just why the couple attempted to sell the children remained unclear.
Family members say the two lacked for nothing even though James Owens recently had been fired from his job as a security guard at a hospital for being too friendly with patients. His father, Ira Owens, said he'd provided his son with a three-bedroom trailer home, numerous cars, several thousand dollars worth of furniture and cash.
"He was a good boy until this. We just don't know. He didn't need the money."
But, Ira Owens said, he had gotten concerned lately because his son had talked about temporarily leaving their daughter and the boy when he was born with relatives while they went to another state to work.
Stephanie Owens' grandmother said she, too, became concerned about a week ago when her granddaughter called her, sobbing, and said that they were going to sell their baby. The grandmother said she gave her granddaughter a good talking to and didn't believe the talk about selling the baby.
She said she thought her granddaughter just was saying things because of marital problems.
According to testimony Monday, when police searched the Owenses' home they found a journal that Stephanie Owens had kept. In it, she indicated that she was willing to go along with the sale of her children only because she loved her husband.
She wrote that she didn't think they were capable of taking care of both of the children and that she was thinking of killing herself because her husband wanted to sell her baby.
"I don't think I can live knowing that James and I sold my baby boy . . . for $10,000 . . . please help me, help me God."