Court Will Not Force Girl to See Birth Parents

A Florida teen-ager swapped at birth with another baby cannot be forced to have contact with her biological parents, a judge ruled Wednesday.

The ruling, which declared the man who raised 14-year-old Kimberly Mays to be her legal father, caps years of uncertainty that started in 1988 when the bizarre baby switch was first discovered.

The ninth-grader’s biological parents were seeking visiting rights, but during seven days of sometimes wrenching testimony in a Sarasota, Fla., courtroom, Kimberly Mays pleaded with the court to sever all ties to the couple, whom she described as “strangers.”

She squealed with joy when she learned of the ruling by telephone, said her attorney, Art Ginsburg. “Kimberly feels like she’s got her life back,” he added. “She said she wanted to kiss the judge.”

The case, which already has been the subject of a book and a made-for-television movie, gained international attention because of the unusual circumstances and because of the questions it raised about whether biology should be the most important factor in determining parenthood.

Ernest and Regina Twigg, the girl’s biological parents, sought visitation rights after having failed last year to win permanent custody.

Spokesmen for the Twiggs could not be reached for comment Wednesday. The Twiggs had said earlier that, if they lost the case, they would appeal all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.

Appeals conceivably could continue until Kimberly turns 18, when she is legally old enough to decide on her own what she wants.

“I would hope that the other side would see that these efforts are fruitless, that they’re just creating more animosity between Kim and the Twiggs by pursuing this,” Ginsburg said at a press conference.

The extraordinary saga began in 1978 when delivery room identification tags were switched in a hospital in rural Wauchula, Fla. Kimberly and another baby girl went home with the wrong parents.

Arlena, the girl the Twiggs took home, died of a heart defect in 1988. Genetic tests showed that she was not related to the Twiggs and that Kimberly was their biological daughter.

The two families reached a visitation agreement in 1990, and for a time Kimberly got along well with the Twiggs and their other children. Robert Mays cut the visits off after five sessions, however, because he said that Kimberly’s attitude changed and her schoolwork suffered. Mays’ wife, Barbara, died of cancer in 1981.

The Twiggs retaliated by seeking custody--an effort that failed last year when a judge refused to take Kimberly away from Mays.

At the just-completed trial, Kimberly testified confidently that she wanted nothing to do with the Twiggs. “I want their parental rights terminated,” she testified. “I want them out of my life and my life back.”

“The evidence is clear that Robert Mays is her psychological parent,” Circuit Judge Stephen Dakan wrote in his ruling. “Forced visitation (with the Twiggs) is likely to produce mental, physical or emotional harm of a lasting nature to her.”

He ruled that Kimberly’s desire to “divorce” or sever all ties to Ernest and Regina Twigg was moot, since first he would have to make a formal, legal declaration that the Twiggs were Kimberly’s biological parents.

Even legally acknowledging the Twiggs as the biological parents would be detrimental to Kimberly, he said, adding: The legal status of Mays “as father of Kimberly Mays remains unchanged.”

The ruling opened the way for Mays and his third wife, Darlena, to begin formal adoption proceedings.

The judge also had harsh words for the Twiggs in his ruling, saying that the couple had failed to demonstrate genuine concern for Kimberly.

During the trial, two independent, court-appointed experts testified that Kimberly would suffer irreparable psychological damage if forced to visit her biological parents.

One testified that what turned Kimberly so adamantly against her birth parents were Regina Twigg’s unproven suspicions--repeated on television talk shows--that Mays was somehow involved in the hospital baby switch and was an abusive father.

By pursuing Kimberly so aggressively and attacking the only father she has ever known, psychologist Herbert Goldstein said, the Twiggs ruined their chances of forging a relationship with Kimberly.

Mrs. Twigg repeated those accusations in letters to the editor of Kimberly’s hometown newspaper--and even signed other people’s names to the letters, the judge said Wednesday.

But the Twiggs’ attorneys stressed that they had a “God-given” right to their natural daughter and cited a long list of cases that back the rights of biological parents. Children’s rights advocates praised the ruling as an important expansion of juvenile rights.

But Karen Adams, a spokeswoman for the National Child’s Rights Alliance, said that the decision also showed how U.S. state courts interpret children’s rights differently.

“It really points out the disparity between states and the way they are willing to look at children and their right to participate in decisions about their lives,” Adams said, referring to a recent case in Michigan in which the court upheld the right of birth parents to reclaim a 2-year-old and to remove her from her prospective adoptive parents’ home.

Jon Ryan, a spokesman for the National Organization of Birthfathers, said that Kimberly’s constitutional rights should not have been the main issue in the case.

“People have their priorities mixed up here,” Ryan said. “People need to ask, what went wrong and deal with that, rather than her constitutional rights and all that.”

Switched at Birth

A chronology of events in the Kimberly Mays baby-swap dispute:

* Nov. 29, 1978--Ernest and Regina Twigg of Sebring, Fla., have a baby girl at Hardee Memorial Hospital in Wauchula.

* Dec. 2, 1978--Robert and Barbara Mays of Wauchula have a baby girl at the same hospital. Identification tags are switched and the families go home with the wrong babies.

* Aug. 23, 1988--The girl the Twiggs named Arlena dies during surgery to correct a heart defect. Blood tests while she was ill determined the girl was not the Twiggs’ biological daughter. The Twiggs begin a nationwide search for their birth daughter.

* Oct. 25, 1988--Robert Mays, whose wife, Barbara, died of ovarian cancer in 1981, confirms that the child he raised, Kimberly Mays, is the girl the Twiggs suspect is their biological daughter.

* Nov. 19, 1989--Mays agrees to the Twiggs’ demand for genetic testing, but on the condition that they wouldn’t seek custody, only visitation. Tests prove Kimberly is the Twiggs’ biological daughter.

* October, 1990--After five visits, Mays abruptly halts visitation. The Twiggs retaliate by seeking further visitation and custody.

* April 29, 1992--Circuit Judge Stephen Dakan refuses to grant custody to the Twiggs, saying they are still bound by earlier agreement to seek only visitation.

* May 4, 1993--Kimberly files to sever all legal ties to the Twiggs, in essence “divorce” them.

* Aug. 18, 1993--After a seven-day trial, Judge Dakan rules that Kimberly may stay with Mays.

Source: Times wire reports