Adoption mixup alleged in New Jersey

BALTIMORE, Ohio, June 28 (UPI) -- The New Jersey attorney general's office has been asked to look into a 1976 adoption in which a man insists his son was switched with another child.

Ron Ryba of Timonium, Ohio, says his son's whereabouts are unknown as are the origins of the substituted child, and he has asked Attorney General Paula T. Dow to order the adoption agency, Catholic Charities of Trenton, to turn over all pertinent records, The Baltimore Sun reported Monday.

Ryba and Kathy Butler were both 16 when she became pregnant and they decided to turn the baby over to Catholic Charities for adoption with the assurance they would be able to reunite at a later date if the son was willing.

In 2008, Ryba started to track down the boy Catholic Charities said was Philip Bloete, 34, of Stony Point, N.Y., the Sun reported.

Ryba and Bloete met in 2004 and Butler met Bloete in 2008 but no one saw a physical resemblance. When Ryba wanted to add Bloete to his will, his lawyer suggested DNA testing all around.

The tests came back finding a "zero percent" chance Bloete was related to either Ryba or Butler, the newspaper said.

When Ryba turned to Catholic Charities for help in unraveling the mystery, the agency argued federal privacy laws prevented them from releasing records containing "medical data," and a New Jersey Superior Court judge agreed.

The judge's reason and all documents in the case were sealed.

Ryba said he is not looking for financial damages. "I even told [his former attorney] Steve [Sacharow] to tell Catholic Charities I would sign an agreement of no monetary damages whatsoever, if they would just find my son."