UK officials seize Internet twins

Belinda and Kimberley, right, were taken from a hotel in north Wales

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Welsh social services seized twin baby girls who are the subject of an international Internet adoption dispute.

Dectective Inspector Nick Crabtree, of North Wales police, said an emergency protection order was served on Alan and Judith Kilshaw, who were staying at a hotel in Flintshire, North Wales with the girls.

A California husband and wife said they paid $6,000 to Caring Heart Adoption for the six-month-old girls, but the twins were apparently also sold to another couple from Wales.

The girls' birth mother, Tranda Wecker, also told the U.S. network CBS on Thursday she wanted them back, and denied making any money from the transaction.

The FBI is now investigating the Web site run by Caring Heart Adoption.

British police said the Children Act of 1989 allows local authorities to take custody of children whose welfare may be endangered.

REFERENCE Internet adoptions   •  Offers abound on Web   •  Web adoption pitfalls   •  Q&A: UK court ruling   •  Quick vote     AUDIO Judith Kilsaw, would-be adoptive mother: "I knew they wanted to take all my children" 243K/23 sec. AIFF or WAV sound    ALSO FBI investigates adoption Web site

"Belinda and Kimberley are safe and well, and are now in the care of social services," Crabtree said.

The row erupted after it emerged that before being given to the Kilshaws, the adoption agency had placed the twins with American couple Richard and Vickie Allen.

The couple flew to the U.S. after paying an American baby broker more than £8,000 ($12,000) to arrange the adoption of the girls.

However, Caring Heart Adoption had already placed the twins with the Allens, who live in California, who raised them for two months but did not adopt them.

The babies' natural mother, Tranda Wecker, told the Allens she wanted to spend two days with her daughters, to say a final farewell, and handed them over to the Kilshaws in a hotel in San Diego.

The British couple, pursued by the Allens, went to Arkansas in order to adopt the babies under the state's more relaxed adoption laws, before bringing the girls into Britain.

Wecker said on Thursday she no longer wanted to go through with the adoption and had lost trust in the adoption process.

"My babies' future is now up in the air. I mean, I love my girls. ... I feel like I was betrayed," Wecker said, adding that she had not made "a dime" from the transaction.

Legal battle over Internet twins
January 17, 2001
Couples fight for Internet twins
January 16, 2001

UK Home Office
British Agencies for Adoption & Fostering
North Wales Police
Federal Bureau of Investigation

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.