2 Infants, 2 Adoptions

Twin infant girls adopted by a San Bernardino couple were taken two months later by their birth mother and given to a British couple who apparently were willing to pay a higher price for the children, authorities said.

The couple from Wales, insisting they were the rightful parents, returned home with the 6-month-old babies and have repeatedly refused to return the children.

The case has captured the attention of tabloids in Britain and prompted that nation’s prime minister and top legal official to call for investigations.

Meanwhile, the FBI is examining the details of the adoptions, which were organized by the owner of Caring Heart Adoption, whose Internet service is based in her San Diego house.

“My clients were excited--they thought they were parents--and the next thing you know someone has taken their children,” said John Giffen, the attorney for Richard and Vickie Allen, the San Bernardino couple.

“It is not clear if it was legally a kidnapping, but emotionally it is.”

The Allens adopted the infants--whom they named Kiara and Keyara--on Oct. 6. The birth mother, Tranda Wecker, 28, a hotel receptionist from St. Louis who has three other children, arranged the adoption through facilitator Tina Johnson.

The Allens paid Johnson about $6,000, and agreed to pay her $2,500 more when they had the cash, Giffen said.

Nearly two months later, Wecker called the Allens saying she wanted to spend a few days with the babies to finish saying goodbye, he said. They agreed, and Wecker flew to San Bernardino from St. Louis. She left with the children, promising to return in 48 hours--and never came back.

In San Diego, meanwhile, Alan and Judith Kilshaw of Wales awaited delivery of the babies they had arranged to adopt through Johnson. They paid about $12,200, according to British television reports.

Panicked when the babies were not returned, the Allens reached the birth father in St. Louis. The father, who Giffen said appeared sympathetic to the Allens, told them Wecker had agreed to give the children to another couple--and told the Allens where to find them. Vickie Allen’s brother, who lives in San Diego, tracked down the Kilshaws and called police, who did not intervene, saying it was a civil matter, Giffen said.

Under California adoption law, Wecker technically retained custody of the children until the adoption was legally finalized. The Allens had not yet filed the adoption consent decree papers in court; in California, birth mothers have 90 days to change their mind about an adoption, Giffen said.

“The question is, does she have the right to withdraw her consent verbally,” he said. “She hasn’t ever done that. She never told them she wanted the children back.” She did not return the money to the Allens, Giffen said.

The lawyer said Wecker’s husband told him that the Kilshaws, Wecker, Johnson and the children drove from San Diego to Arkansas, which has relatively lax adoption laws, and completed an adoption agreement before the Kilshaws returned to Britain. The girls, whom they named Kimberley and Belinda, entered Britain with American passports and tourist visas.

Facilitator Johnson declined to comment to The Times on Wednesday.

The Allens tried to draw local media and law enforcement attention to their situation with no luck--until a San Diego television station included them in a news story about adoption, Giffen said.

Tuesday, the British tabloid Sun printed a front-page story titled “The Baby Traders.”

Since then, British and American news programs have been filled with talk from both sets of parents, who have attacked one another on the air. The Kilshaws have denied the widely held view in Great Britain that they bought the babies--or that the babies went to the highest bidder.

The Allens “didn’t have [all] the money--I think that’s why it fell apart,” Giffen said. “[Johnson] wanted more money and she found another couple who had given her a substantial amount of money and she wanted to keep them happy. That’s my theory.”

But Judith Kilshaw told Britain’s ITV news: “We have not broken any American laws, and as far as I’m concerned we haven’t broken any British laws, so what is unacceptable?”

The Kilshaws live in a seven-bedroom farmhouse with sons James, 7, and Rupert, 4. Judith Kilshaw has an 18-year-old daughter, Cayley, from a previous relationship.

Several British social service agencies are in contact with the Kilshaws and have pledged to monitor the situation, Keith McDonogh, director of Education, Children’s Services and Recreation, told the British Press Assn.

In Britain on Wednesday, Prime Minister Tony Blair condemned Internet baby brokering as “absolutely deplorable. . . . Adoption should always be about the child first.”

The British home secretary, who is roughly equivalent to America’s attorney general, vowed to investigate.

In the United States, the Salt Lake City branch of the FBI had been investigating another Internet adoption case. Hearing of the Allens’ case Monday, it agreed to fold the two investigations together, said Bill Matthews, FBI special agent. He added that the investigations were in early stages, but it seemed clear that agents would be sent to Britain to conduct interviews.

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Texeira reported from Los Angeles and Miller from London.