Girls Returned to Adoptive Parents

Two Russian girls have been returned to the custody of adoptive American parents accused of abusing the children on the airplane ride home from Moscow. The girls, now 5, were returned to live with Karen and Richard Thorne of Phoenix, said Maggie Lear, a spokeswoman for the Administration for Children’s Services. As a condition of regaining custody, Queens Family Court Judge Joseph Lauria ruled that the couple, who had been arrested at Kennedy International Airport, would be subject to unannounced visits by Arizona child welfare officials. The Thornes were found guilty of child neglect and ordered to undergo psychological evaluation as a condition for custody.