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'No matter what, I'm getting my kid back'
By LEANORA MINAI, Times Staff Writer
ST. PETERSBURG -- Minutes after being cleared Tuesday of any criminal wrongdoing, Amy Clucas vowed to get her 2-month-old daughter back. She would find a job, and a home. She would keep both long enough to convince the right people she could take care of her baby. "No matter what, I'm getting my kid back," said Clucas, 20, as she stood outside police headquarters Tuesday with her fiance, Arza Vansiclen. "I'll have her in my arms." Clucas had just explained to detectives why she gave her daughter, Desiree, to a homeless couple two weeks ago. It was a temporary arrangement, Clucas said. Her ex-boyfriend kicked her out of his home because Desiree cried a lot. She said she thought the homeless couple had an apartment. After hearing her story, police concluded she did not neglect or abandon her baby. "She hasn't done anything illegal," said police spokesman George Kajtsa. "She turned over the care of the child to the couple, whom she believed would care for the child until she got her act together." In the coming weeks, Clucas will have to convince a judge and child welfare workers that Desiree, now in foster care, should stay with her. The tale a baby living on the streets shocked many social service agencies and touched the hearts of many in the Tampa Bay area. "We serve homeless, mostly men and when someone comes in with a baby, that's out of the ordinary," said Richard Yentzer, a staff member of Society of St. Vincent de Paul, which runs the soup kitchen where Clucas met the homeless couple, Jim and Kim Keammerer. Residents offered money to the Keammerers Tuesday. A man affiliated with St. Vincent de Paul gave them a rent-free apartment for a month. "There's nothing I wouldn't do for this couple," said Anthony Viscardi, 37, who called the newspaper offering to help the couple. Viscardi runs a Boston Market restaurant in Seminole. "I'd give them a hotel for a week. Take them grocery shopping," Viscardi said. "They can come in my restaurant and eat every night of the week. I don't care." On Monday, after living with Desiree on the street for two weeks, the Keammerers decided they needed help. The couple showed up Monday morning with Desiree at ASAP Homeless Services, which operates a shelter and drop-in center in St. Petersburg. They wanted a place to stay with the child. "I really believe that they had the best interest of the baby at heart," said Debbie Rowland, executive director. But Rowland faced a problem. Although the Keammerers had a handwritten note they said was from Desiree's mother, Rowland was hesitant to admit two adults with a child who was not legally theirs. She referred them to legal agencies to obtain proper paperwork. She expected to hear from them later Monday, but did not. "I didn't want to call the police and have them in trouble for having a baby that wasn't theirs," Rowland said. The Keammerers went to a CVS pharmacy on Fourth Street N and asked for help. Police and paramedics were called and took Desiree to All Children's Hospital, where she was released into foster care Tuesday. Police looked for Clucas overnight and found her in Williams Park on Tuesday afternoon. She met with detectives for 45 minutes and was released. Outside the police station, she said she's had bad times. She's on probation for a grand theft charge for stealing a few hundred compact discs in 2001. Her ex-boyfriend, recently kicked her and her baby out. "I was doing very bad because of this guy," Clucas said. She left the police station Tuesday and headed for a meeting with her probation officer. -- Times staff writer Curtis Krueger contributed to this report.
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