Internet adoption couple face writ

The writ was served after the Kilshaws appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show

LONDON, England -- The British couple at the centre of an Internet adoption row have been ordered to appear before a U.S. court accused of abduction.

A lawyer acting for California couple Richard and Vickie Allen served the court papers on Alan and Judith Kilshaw on Thursday, shortly after both sides faced each other for the first time on U.S. television.

The writ orders the Kilshaws from Buckley, Wales, to appear in a court in Arkansas to answer charges they abducted the girls and deceived officials in the U.S. and Britain when they adopted six-month-old twins Belinda and Kimberley via the Internet.

AUDIO CNN's Tom Mintier: The girls are in Britain on tourist visas 468kb/43sec.. AIFF or WAV sound     MESSAGE BOARD Family law: Adoption

The writ was served after the rowing couples, who both paid a Californian Internet adoption agency to act on their behalf, appeared on the Oprah Winfrey talk show.

"The Kilshaws had to be served with the legal papers that the Allens had filed… when we learned that they would be in the United States we contacted a private processor and made arrangements for them to be served in Chicago while they were here for the Oprah Winfrey Show," the Allens' attorney Lynn Lisk told the British Broadcasting Corporation on Friday.

It came as a British court ruled on Friday that a care order placed on the children last month should remain until the adoption issue is resolved.

The Allens, of San Diego, say they had adopted the baby girls and cared for them for two months until the twins' natural mother took them away and handed them to the Kilshaws.

"It is our opinion that the law is clear that the adoption is void," Lisk said.

"They (the Allens) feel like they are their children who were kidnapped, stolen or taken from them. Whether legally it was a kidnapping is for the authorities to decide but from an emotional standpoint that is how the Allens feel."

Birth mother Tranda Wecker, 28, has since told U.S. talk shows that she gave the twins up at the lowest point in her life and now wants them back.

In another twist to the complicated case, the girls' biological father successfully sought a court order in St. Louis, Missouri, granting him temporary custody of his daughters and prohibiting his ex-wife from coming within 100 feet of them.

The babies were taken into the care of UK social services last month while the courts consider the dispute. At a court hearing in Birmingham, England, Mr Justice Kirkwood held a one-hour behind-doors progress hearing on the case on Friday, during which he ruled the twins must remain in the care of Flintshire social services, a spokeswoman for the Lord Chancellor's department said.

She said the babies' natural mother and father, who are also seeking custody of the twins, had been represented at the hearing.

"Justice Kirkwood is prepared to consider representations from them at a future date," the spokeswoman said.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Flintshire County Council
British Agencies for Adoption & Fostering
U.S. Department of State
U.K. Department of Health

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