Amanda Kibel: Internet adoption twins to be returned to U.S.

Amanda Kibel

Q: What reasons did the British judge give today in his ruling against the Welsh couple in the Internet adoption case?

Kibel: Right from the start, Justice Andrew Kirkwood has had to decide in the best interest of the children and that would mean deciding whether or not Judith and Alan Kilshaw were fit to parent these children. That would have been uppermost in his mind when he was making his decision. Effectively what the judge said was that it would not be in the welfare interest of the twins for them to be returned to Mr. And Mrs. Kilshaw.

REFERENCE Internet adoptions   •  Offers abound on Web   •  Web adoption pitfalls   •  Q&A: UK court ruling   •  Quick vote     AUDIO CNN's Amanda Kibel: The Kilshaws may appeal 287kb/26secs. AIFF or WAV sound

Q: How was the twins' mother, Tranda Wecker, represented in the British court and what argument was made in her behalf?

Kibel: The natural parents of the twins, both the mother and the father had representation throughout this hearing in Britain. They were not, in fact, party to the case, which would mean that they didn't have any sort of status within these hearings, but certainly their arguments would have been put to the British court.

Both of them have filed their own custody applications for these children. The parents are separated, so they filed separate and independent custody applications, which would have been heard by the British court and the judge would have then taken that into account when he was making his decision. So, their pleas would have been heard, their representation would have been made, but in fact when he came to make the decision, ultimately, the judge was concerned essentially with two things: one, should these children remain wards of the British courts as they have been since January; or, two, should they be handed back to Judith and Alan Kilshaw? And in making that decision, he would then have to decide whether or not the Kilshaws were fit parents.

Q: How does the judge's ruling affect the fate of the twins now?

Kibel: The decision that he made ultimately was that the children should be kept in the custody of the courts and sent back to the United States under the court's jurisdiction. The decision would not have been for or against the natural parents, but certainly their applications would have been considered and the judge would have also taken into account that a U.S. court has already given custody to Aaron Wecker, the babies' natural father. He made his application for custody in the U.S. and that court has granted him custody. Of course, now when the children return to Missouri, those cases will be ongoing and the decision on the long-term future of the children will then be considered.

In his ruling, Justice Andrew Kirkwood did make allowances for that. He said, summarily, that initially the children will be kept by foster parents in Missouri. But that will be pending the decision of the Missouri court as to whether or not it would be in the best interests of the twins to be brought up in some part of their natural family or whether other provisions should be made for them. Justice Kirkwood left that avenue open for the natural parents to still go through with their own custody case as far as where these twins should spend their future in the long term.

Q: How would you describe British public opinion regarding this case?

Kibel: Certainly there's been an enormous amount of media interest in this case since Judith and Alan Kilshaw went public with their Internet adoption story. The public, too, has shown an enormous amount of interest. To some extent this was something completely new. The concept of Internet adoption is not one which Britain is particularly familiar with, and the notion that the Kilshaws paid some $12,000 for these children and that they adopted them over the Internet effectively sight unseen. I think people have been watching this case very closely and obviously the concern by all has always been for the interest of the twins.

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