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N e w s - F u l l S t o r y :
Internet adoption of twins ruled invalid WebPosted Tue Mar 6 21:33:48 2001 LITTLE ROCK, ARK.-- A British couple who
adopted twin American girls over the Internet last year suffered a legal setback
on Tuesday, when a judge in Arkansas ruled the adoption was invalid.
Alan and Judith Kilshaw say they paid an Internet adoption broker $12,000,
and were given the girls by their biological mother, Tranda Wecker, in Arkansas.
In nullifying the adoption, Judge Mackie Pierce said neither the British
couple nor the American birth mother met Arkansas' 30-day residency requirement.
The judge was ruling on a motion from a California couple who had sought to
nullify the Kilshaws' adoption.
Richard and Vickie Allen say they paid $6,000 to the same Internet adoption
broker as the Kilshaws.
They had custody of the girls for nearly two months and say they were in the
process of legally adopting them when Wecker took the children to Arkansas,
where she gave them to the Kilshaws.
Tranda Wecker is separated from the twins' birth father, Aaron Wecker. Both
parents are also fighting for custody.
The girls, who are eight months old, are now in foster care in Britain.
In his ruling, the judge asked that the British courts return the twins to
the United States and suggested that a St. Louis court would be the "proper
forum for further proceedings," because the girls were born there.
In another twist to this strange saga, the lawyers for the Allens asked a
judge for permission to be dropped from the case last week, after Richard Allen
was charged with molesting two of his family's baby sitters.
Allen pleaded innocent to the charges on Friday.
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The Kilshaws with the twins
Tranda Wecker, Courtesy CBS, The Early Show