TORONTO -- Guards twice admonished an anxious man and his wife yesterday for trying to communicate with the 14-year-old teen charged with abducting a baby boy.

The man's search of more than a decade for her ended in the cramped confines of Old City Hall's 101 court.

He claims the teen is his daughter, lost to a court challenge initiated by the maternal grandmother about a dozen years ago. He said the girl's biological mother is dead.

Yesterday he and his wife, the girl's stepmother, tried to tell the girl they are her parents.

The girl looked twice at the man and there was no semblance of recognition in her eyes. She was, after all, about three when she was handed over to her maternal grandmother, who lives in Guelph. Shortly after her birth, the girl's biogical mom died, the man said.

But he recognized her.

"Of course," the man said. "Yeah, I raised her from when she was born ... That's when her grandmother took me to court to get her.

"I was trying to tell her I was there," the father said.

"I've been looking for her for 12 years," he said. "I always thought she was being taken care of by her grandma and obviously she wasn't."

He said he's not sure if she understood that he is her dad.

"I don't think so. I don't know," he said.

Before the teen's case was heard, the couple wrote a short letter explaining who they are and duty counsel agreed to pass it on to the teen. The girl was remanded into custody and is to appear in a North York court this morning.

Police have accused the the teen of vanishing with 10-month-old Kamren Cunningham from an 18th floor apartment at 720 Trethewey Dr. between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. Friday. She's charged with abduction of a child under 14 years. The girl is also wanted by Toronto and Durham police for other unrelated charges.

"She needs to know that she has her dad and that he's been looking for her," the step-mother said. "We don't know what her life has been for the past 12 years."

The teen's dad and his wife said they didn't know where she was until they heard her name on the television during breakfast Saturday. Her identity must now be withheld by law.

"They told her her dad was dead," the stepmother said. "I just wish I could have taken her out of the (prisoner's) box. It's just so sad. And there's really nothing we can do right now to get her out."

Court heard the teen is a ward of the Durham Region Children's Aid Society.

"He's not just going to leave her," the stepmother said. "And we know where she is now."

ROB.LAMBERTI@SUNMEDIA.CA