THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 3, 1996 TAG: 9605030504
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH SIMPSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
In the end, the rights of a birth mother prevailed.
Lindsey Hewitt, a 21-year-old mother caught in a dispute with a baby sitter over who should have custody of Hewitt's daughter, was given final custody of 4-year-old Lauren during a closed court hearing Thursday.
``I'm happy,'' Hewitt said after the two-hour hearing. ``I'm going home.''
Judi Louk, the Chesapeake woman who cared for Lauren for nearly four years, was stripped of the right to visit Lauren. The 49-year-old woman collapsed at the end of the hearing. Paramedics were called to treat Louk, but she left in the care of friends and family members.
Gary Louk, Judi Louk's former husband, said the whole family was devastated over the decision by Circuit Court Judge E. Preston Grissom.
``We all loved her and we're going to miss her,'' Gary Louk said of Lauren. ``I don't think we'll ever get to see her again.''
Judi Louk had started caring for Lauren in 1992, when Lauren was about 8 weeks old. Hewitt was a single, teenage mother at the time and asked Judi Louk to care for the child.
According to Judi Louk, Hewitt left the baby with her almost all of the time. Hewitt, however, said Judi Louk was a babysitter.
In May of 1993 Hewitt went to Washington to work for a few weeks, leaving the child with Judi Louk. Hewitt's mother wanted to take Lauren for a visit but Judi Louk refused to let her. The grandmother filed for custody in September of 1993, and Judi Louk filed for custody later that month.
Judi Louk was given temporary custody of Lauren in December in 1993 while studies of the homes of the disputing parties could be conducted. The next year Hewitt filed for custody. By that time Hewitt had married, gotten a job and was living in a townhouse.
At a February 1995 hearing, Hewitt was awarded temporary custody of Lauren, but Judi Louk filed an appeal and asked that the judge's order be stopped until the appeal was heard.
Grissom put a stay on the order, and for more than a year, Lauren continued living with Judi Louk. Hewitt could visit her daughter, but moved to Texas in October to live with her husband.
At a March 22 hearing of Judi Louk's appeal, however, Hewitt was again given temporary custody.
Thursday's emotional hearing brought to a close the long and bitter battle over Lauren.
``It's over,'' said Moody E. Stallings Jr., Hewitt's attorney. ``It's got to end somewhere. My client is the natural mother of the child, and the mother wins.''
He said the judge was critical of Judi Louk's conduct, such as hiring a private investigator to track Hewitt, during the past several months.
KEYWORDS: CHILD CUSTODY LAWSUIT DECISION by CNB