Judge Weighs In On Adoption Fight
The judge who nullified the adoption of twin babies at the center of an international custody battle said Wednesday he does not believe the birth mother should regain custody of the girls.
Pulaski County Probate Judge Mackie Pierce on Tuesday voided the adoption of the 8-month-old girls by Judith and Alan Kilshaw of Britain on grounds it was obtained fraudulently. He also said he had no jurisdiction to grant the adoption in the first place.
The Kilshaws promised a quick appeal, and said if they can't have the girls, the children should go to another family rather than their biological mother or father.
"We haven't sold them, and we haven't said they're not our children, which both of the biological parents have done not once, not twice, three times and over so maybe biological parents aren't always best to bring children up," Judith Kilshaw told CBS News Early Show Co-Host Jane Clayson Wednesday.
The judge said that birth mother Tranda Wecker gave false information to get the adoption through his court last year.
"The last thing I want to see is those children go back to Tranda Wecker," Pierce said.
Wecker gave the girls up for adoption through a San Diego-based Internet adoption broker, and the children were initially placed in the custody of Richard and Vickie Allen of Highland, Calif., who say they paid the adoption facilitator $6,000.
Wecker retrieved the girls from the Allens before the adoption was finalized and had the twins adopted by the Kilshaws in Arkansas on Dec. 22. The Kilshaws say they paid $12,000 to arrange the adoption.
The Allens challenged the Kilshaws' adoption. Wecker now wants the twins back. The biological father, Aaron Wecker, wants the girls with him.
In his ruling Tuesday, the judge wrote that the children should be removed from the custody of British social services and returned to the United States. He noted that he could not compel British authorities to agree with his recommendation; British officials have said they would take his ruling in account.
"Miss Wecker committed fraud and intentionally misled and deceived a number of people," Pierce said Wednesday. "It is my belief that she misled two attorneys and I really personally believe she misled the Kilshaws."
The judge said Wecker had signed statements and told several attorneys that she lived with an aunt in Arkansas. Under Arkansas adoption law, one set of parents involved in the adoption must live in the state for at least 30 days. Wecker, who lives in St. Louis, later admitted lying about her residency.
Tranda Wecker's lawyer, Gloria Allred, said Pierce's latest ruling "certainly paves the way for the British court to return the twins to the U.S." She said her client would not peak publicly about the case and she did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the judge's fraud characterization.
The Kilshaws argued against either of the Weckers gaining custody.
"I think they should go to a family that wants them. We are a family that wants them, but if that can't be, find a decent, loving family for the girls," Judith Kilshaw said.
Aaron Wecker told CBS News he is pursuing custody because the situation has changed since he first agreed to give up the girls. "I was OK with an adoption. I wasn't OK with the madness that came out of the adoption," he said.
Richard Allen, 49, pleaded innocent on Friday to charges he molested two of his family's baby sitters.
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