LONDON -- A British couple lost their bid Monday to regain custody of the "Internet Twins" found through a U.S. online adoption broker, who then became the subject of a transatlantic tug-of-war with the High Court ruling that the infants should be returned to the United States.
Judith and Alan Kilshaw of Wales had brought the 9-month-old girls to Britain three months ago after paying double the fee paid by a California couple who also wanted to adopt them. The twins were placed a few weeks later in the care of social services, where they have remained since.
Justice Andrew Kirkwood ruled that the girls should be returned to Missouri, where the estranged biological parents are seeking custody. In a statement, the judge said the twins would be placed in foster care in Missouri pending rulings there on their future.
The court session was punctuated by two separate outbursts outside chambers by Mrs. Kilshaw, who gained a reputation for eccentric behavior as the custody tussle dragged on.
"There is no justice, they said I lied," she screamed at reporters waiting for word of the decision. She calmed down and re-entered the courtroom, but re-emerged a short time later, struggling violently with a court official and yelling: "You are all wrong.... They are all liars and I hate them."
The case raised serious questions about Britain's adoption laws, proper standards for adoptive parents and the role of the Internet in brokering adoptions.
Last week, lawyers for each of the twins' biological parents, Tranda and Aaron Wecker of St. Louis, separately filed papers asking Kirkwood to declare the girls abducted children under the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption. Both the United States and Britain have joined the treaty, which was designed to set guidelines for international adoptions and to restrict child trafficking.
The Kilshaws adopted the girls, whom they named Belinda and Kimberley, in Arkansas after locating them through an Internet adoption service based in California. After they brought them home to Britain, a tabloid newspaper, the Sun, broke the story of a custody tussle between the Kilshaws and a California couple who had tried to adopt them through the same broker.
The adoption was voided March 6 in Arkansas by the Pulaski County Probate Court, which ruled that the Kilshaws and the twins' natural mother, Tranda Wecker, had not met the 30-day residency requirement to qualify as state residents at the time of the adoption. The Kilshaws appealed that decision.
Richard and Vickie Allen of Highland, California, initially contested the Kilshaws' claim to the twins. The Allens said they had paid $6,000 to A Caring Heart, an Internet adoption service run by Tina Johnson of El Cajon, California. The Kilshaws subsequently paid about $12,000.
The Allens bowed out of the battle after Richard Allen was accused of molesting two babysitters. Allen has pleaded innocent, but the couple has also lost custody of a 2-year-old boy they were seeking to adopt.
