News@www.adoption-net.co.uk
This story published January 30, 2001

Twins: Allens bid to overturn adoption

The Californian couple attempting to regain custody of the internet twin girls, adopted by British couple Alan and Judith Kilshaw, have launched their legal bid to overturn the adoption in Arkansas.

Arkansas attorney Ed Webb, of Little Rock, said the petition by Richard and Vickie Allen asks the courts to order that the seven-month-old girls be immediately returned to the US from Britain and placed in their custody.

The Allens had custody of the girls for two months while their adoption was being finalised in California courts.

They claimed they paid £4,000 for the twins but were tricked into handing the babies back to their birth mother, Tranda Wecker, who then gave them to Mrs and Mrs Kilshaw of north Wales who had paid double the money.

The Kilshaws drove with Ms Wecker to Little Rock where a local official granted them the adoption on December 22. The Kilshaws then returned to Britain with the girls.

But Allen are not alone in fighting for custody of the twin.

The Kilshaws say they have legal rights to the twins.

Ms Wecker has said she wants her daughters back

The children's natural father, Aaron Wecker, last week hired a Little Rock attorney to fight his battle for custody.

Meanwhile Flintshire County Council has custody of the infants who are in temporary foster care while the British courts decide what should happen to them.

The Allens' action requests that the Kilshaws' adoption be set aside on grounds of fraud and misrepresentation.

"Adoption laws must be strictly complied with and a failure to do so robs the court of the jurisdiction to grant an adoption," said Mr Webb.

"We take the position that the adoption of the twins by the Kilshaws is null and void on its face for that reason."

Arkansas law requires that a birth mother or the adoptive parents must have lived in the state for at least 30 days prior to the adoption.

Ms Wecker has admitted that she lied about living in the state, giving her aunt's address as her own.

In addition, Mr Webb says the Arkansas judge involved in the Kilshaw's adoption was never informed of the situation with the Allens.

Under state law, those in custody of a child at the time a petition for adoption is filed must reveal how they came to have custody of the child.

Mr Webb is claiming that the Arkansas courts never had jurisdiction in the case.

"Our contention is that the birth parents signed consent," he said.

But California law says that a birth mother has 90 days to change her mind. Mr Webb is hoping a California court will eventually use the written consent agreement as a binding contract.

"There was a placement agreement signed" said Mr Webb. "Now it's up to the California courts to decide whether it was legally binding."

A spokeswoman for the Bureau of Consular Affairs at the State Department in Washington said federal officials were monitoring the case closely and assisting law enforcement and social services in both the US and Britain.

"We obviously have an interest in these girls' well-being. They are US citizens living abroad," said the spokeswoman.

"But we are not a law enforcement agency. As long as this case is an adoption case, there is really nothing the federal government can do. For the time being, it's a state issue," she added.