Two three-year-old girls apparently switched at birth in a Virginia hospital will grow up as "sisters" in an extended family forged from the incident, the girls' families said yesterday.
The toddlers, Rebecca Chittum and Callie Johnson, will be raised by the families that took them home from the University of Virginia Medical Centre, where they were born in June 1995, according to a transcript of their interview with Barbara Walters for the ABC News show 20/20 Friday. "Hopefully they can grow up as sisters. You know, or have a sisterly love there. That's what I hope," said Ms Paula Johnson, whose discovery that Callie was not her biological child led officials to believe she may have been switched with Rebecca.
Preliminary tests have confirmed that the two girls have transposed blood types. The result of DNA testing is expected next week to show whether Ms Johnson gave birth to the girl taken home by another couple, Mr Kevin Chittum and his fiancee, Ms Whitney Rogers.
The story took another turn when Mr Chittum, Ms Rogers, two of their relatives and two family friends were killed in a Fourth of July car accident near their Buena Vista, Virginia, home, leaving Rebecca an orphan.
But Ms Johnson, whose court battle with her former boyfriend, Mr Carlton Conley, prompted the initial DNA testing of Callie, told Ms Walters she had no intention of seeking custody of both girls in court. Rebecca currently is being raised jointly by both sets of what had been thought to be her grandparents.
"We can all raise them. The Rogers, the Chittums and myself, you know, my family. Carlton, you know, we can all raise them together," Ms Johnson said. "I don't think that we're gonna have a problem in agreeing whatsoever on how we raise these children. And how we should all come together to do it."
Although the families have said they will not wage a court battle over custody of the girls, they have not ruled out a lawsuit against the University of Virginia Medical Centre.
Hospital officials said the switch, which is being investigated by state police, could not have happened accidentally.