Web twins prompt adoption law change

Internet adoption twins Belinda and Kimberley face an uncertain future

LONDON, England -- Plans for new international adoption laws in the UK are being speeded up after the plight of twin girls bought via the Internet was highlighted.

Twins Belinda and Kimberley were placed with a British couple who say they did not know the girls had already been handed over to an American family, sparking a transatlantic custody battle.

A spokesman for the UK Heath Department said: "We are accelerating it because of that case .. the whole principle being that children who are adopted abroad have the same safeguards as those adopted in this country."

Under the new laws, due to be in place by April, parents adopting children from abroad without proper approval face up to three months in prison and a fine of £600.

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The regulations aim to make it an offence for parents to adopt abroad unless a home study report has been completed and a local authority or approved voluntary adoption agency has deemed the parents suitable.

Health Secretary Alan Milburn said: "Adoption is a service for children. It is not a service for adults. We want more children to be adopted which is why we are reforming the system to lower the hurdles some parents have faced.

"But in doing so the interests of the child will always come first. And that means children from other countries as well as our own."

A Department of Health statement added: "The government believes that it is right that children who might be adopted from abroad are subject to the same safeguards as children in this country.

Kilshaws to launch court batle for return of twins

"There are a lot of loving parents who want to adopt and we want to make it easier for them to do so. Equally children must be protected, for example from predatory paedophiles."

The Internet twins, Belinda and Kimberley, were placed with Alan and Judith Kilshaw after they paid $12,000 (£8,000) to an adoption agency in California.

A U.S. Richard and Vickie Allen, from California, are disputing custody, saying they adopted the children first. They have employed lawyers to fight their case on both sides of the Atlantic.

The girls were taken into care by local authority social workers last week and actions has begun to make the childrenwards of court.

The Kilshaws, from Buckley, North Wales, say they will fight the wardship case which is due to be heard on Tuesday.

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British Agencies for Adoption & Fostering
Department of Health

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