NorthwestJanuary 29, 1996

Associated Press

BOISE In one week, Billie and Vicki Vandever of Burley had to return an infant to the natural mother who wanted her back, and paid out $2,200 for the woman's hospital costs.

They learned to love Shelby Lynn in seven days. That was all the time they had with her.

"I can't tell you how heartbreaking it is to have a gorgeous baby girl that I fell in love with and to have to give her to a 16-year-old single mother who doesn't know what she wants to do with her life," Vicki said. "It's bad enough to lose a child, but they took my money too."

Their story, which happened two years ago, is driving a proposal by Sen. Dean Cameron, R- Rupert, to make natural parents pay for medical fees, food, clothing and other expenses incurred by adoptive parents if the natural parents reclaim their child.

But Cameron's proposal puzzles Roseanne Hardin, administrator of the Division of Family and Children Services at the Department of Health and Welfare.

Under current law, the only way natural parents could recover legal rights after an adoption goes through is if they can prove fraud or duress, she said.

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She had not read through the bill, but said at least parts of it appear to be unnecessary. Other parts, however, could be relevant.

Cameron's bill would also apply to parents who consent to start adoption proceedings, then withdraw before actually signing a consent for adoption, as well as foster parents who are not reimbursed for their expenses.

It is a bill that Vicki Vandever wants to see made law. She and her husband paid the hospital for the birth costs in exchange for taking Shelby.

Reimbursement has trickled in from the natural mother $25 at a time.

"I don't really have a recourse to collect the money," she said. "It's just really frustrating."

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