Internet twins to stay in care

The Kilshaws say their battle for custody is just beginning

BIRMINGHAM, England -- American-born twins adopted by a British couple who found them through the Internet will temporarily remain in authorities' care, a British judge has ruled.

Social welfare authorities in North Wales had taken the six-month-old twins, bought from an adoption agency in California, away from Alan and Judith Kilshaw on Thursday.

The Kilshaws arrived at the High Court hearing vowing to do everything they could to win back custody of Internet twins Belinda and Kimberley.

Mrs. Kilshaw, 47, said: "We are going to go for it. I am not giving up. We are fighting for everybody that have had children taken off them by the social service."

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The judge, Mr. Justice Kirkwood, is also hearing arguments from authorities in North Wales, where the Kilshaws live, to be made wards of court.

Mrs. Kilshaw claimed the couple had been subjected to "disgusting treatment" by those involved in the row, claiming: "The British people should listen to me and my husband and help us and support us."

Mr. Kilshaw, 45, said both he and his wife were happy for the twins to be made wards of court.

"It gets them out of the hands of social services," he said as he arrived at the court. "We are just going to have to wait and see what happens.

"This is a preliminary hearing and not a lot may happen today. A date will be set for another hearing and we are going to ask for the children to be returned to us."

Kilshaw, a solicitor, added: "Whatever happens today is only really the start."

Belinda and Kimberley are being looked after by foster parents

Tuesday's hearing is being held in the judge's chambers, with the press and public excluded.

Authorities took the girls, named Kimberley and Belinda, from the Kilshaws under an emergency custody order that expires on Thursday.

Making them wards of the court would give the court legal jurisdiction until the adoption issue is resolved.

The Kilshaws' adoption is being challenged by a California couple, Richard and Vickie Allen, who say the girls were taken away while they were in the process of adopting them. They also had a barrister in court asking that the twins be returned to the U.S.

The natural mother, Tranda Wecker, 28, of St. Louis, said in a television interview last week that she wants the babies back.

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Couples fight for Internet twins
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Department of Health
Federal Bureau of Investigation
US Department of State
Flintshire County Council Social Services
British Agencies for Adoption & Fostering

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