Child, Told of Family Mix-Up, ‘Cried and Cried’

When Robert Mays had to tell his only child that she was not his biological daughter, “she cried and cried for a long time,” then asked him to explain what it meant, Mays said Wednesday.

Mays, his voice breaking at times, spoke publicly for the first time since genetic tests confirmed a Pennsylvania couple’s claim that 10-year-old Kimberly Michelle is their daughter.

“I held her. She just simply wept. I was crying myself. She said: ‘Daddy, Daddy, Daddy! What does this mean?’

“I told her, ‘Honey, it means only that you are not my biological daughter, and that means nothing in our life. I’ve loved you, raised you and cared for you, and that’s not going to change,’ ” Mays said.

Mays said that he was “shocked, disappointed and let down” Friday when he learned that the testing had shown that the families had reared each other’s children.

Kimberly was born to Ernest and Regina Twigg, but they reared a girl named Arlena, who died of heart disease last year. Arlena was the daughter of Mays and his wife, Barbara, who died of cancer in 1981.

Kimberly and Arlena were born within three days of each other at Hardee Memorial Hospital in rural Wauchula.

Just before Arlena’s death in Pennsylvania, where the Twiggs had moved, they learned through genetic testing that she was not related to either one of them.

The Twiggs contended in a federal lawsuit that a mix-up had occurred in the Florida hospital and began a 14-month search for their child. The Twiggs, who have seven other children, recently moved to Sebring, 65 miles east of Sarasota, where Mays is a roofing contractor.

Mays described Kimberly as a “very sensitive child” who is “totally confused right now” and worried about hurting anyone’s feelings on either side.

The next step is for Kimberly to meet with psychologists, who will make recommendations about her first meeting with the Twiggs and subsequent visits.

Mays said it would be her decision on how to proceed. He said he would be there to advise her.

On one hand, Mays called it “a sense of relief for me. I’m glad it’s over . . . . It was a tremendous burden, not knowing.

“But we can’t change anything,” he added. “The facts are the facts.”

Mays said he has not yet come to grips with Arlena’s death.

“I certainly feel a sense of loss,” he said. He added that he had been deprived of any contact with his biological daughter, and said there will always be a question in his mind:

“Could I have made a difference in her life?”