A Special Mother-Child Reunion

Sharon Vinton prepared herself for a birthday party Thursday afternoon. She had even rehearsed a couple of songs--”She’ll Be Comin’ ‘Round the Mountain” and “Old McDonald”--to sing along with the karaoke machine, and worn a smart batik dress for the occasion.

For Vinton, a mentally disabled Stanton resident, the party was an opportunity to forget for a while the strain of a years-long custody battle for her nearly 3-year-old son, Vinson Haggadone, who was whisked to Illinois by his father, shortly after the boy’s birth in May 1995.

But when she arrived at the Huntington Beach restaurant Thursday, she was greeted with a phalanx of reporters and camera crews. The reason for the hubbub soon became clear.

Her little boy, who had been separated from her for more than a year and a half, was brought forward as an overwhelmed Vinton covered her face with her hands and let out a small scream: “My baby, my baby!” A few tears came next, and then, the reality of it all: “Oh, I’m your mama. . . . You’re going to have to get to know me.”

The reunion was the work of several close friends who have helped Vinton fight to regain custody of her child, an effort that also produced an unusual court-approved arrangement, said Vinton’s attorney, Paul Valencia. Because Vinton’s disability makes her unable to care for the child herself, a friend, Laura Sanford, has agreed to act as Vinson’s foster mother and primary caretaker so mother and son can remain together, Valencia said.

Sanford, a nurse who met Vinton while working at a local clinic Vinton attended for general care, said she will allow Vinton access to her son, who is also mentally challenged, “whenever she wants.”

The child was the product of a relationship that began in 1994 and ended when the father of the child walked out on Vinton, saying he was taking their son on a “vacation,” Valencia said. He never returned with the boy, Valencia said.

Heartbroken over her loss, but uncertain what could be done or if authorities would take her complaint seriously because of her disability, Vinton eventually turned to DeAnna Bever, a Garden Grove private investigator who had hired Vinton as a part-time housekeeper.

“She was down and out, without housing, food. I’d heard she’d had a baby and when I asked about him, she said her baby was on vacation. I said, ‘What do you mean . . . on vacation?’ ” Bever recalled. Vinton never complained because “she thought there would be all these credibility factors because she is mentally challenged, and thought it wouldn’t be possible to get the appropriate acceptance from law enforcement at that time,” Bever said.

Bever began investigating the whereabouts of the father’s family and alerted local authorities.

“I didn’t plan that I’d be involved for the long term,” said Bever. “The more I unraveled the case, the more the investigation led me to believe that hers had become a severe case of abuse and abduction.”

Vinton’s lawyer said he successfully petitioned an Illinois court to restrict the father’s custody time with the child. He then received court approval for an arrangement by which a California foster parent would care for the child and allow Vinton ample access.

Efforts to reach the father and his attorney for comment were unsuccessful.

A mother of five, Sanford had wanted to become a foster parent even before learning of Vinton’s situation.

“I was going through the process when Dee called. She said, ‘What are you doing?’ and I said ‘I’m sitting here filling out paperwork to become a foster mom.’ She told me they were looking for someone who would be willing to take Vinson, so it was just a little bit more of a coincidence.”