Lawyer in twins adoption case wants out

Lawyer in twins adoption case wants out
Reuters

MAR 2: An attorney for a California couple embroiled in an international adoption dispute involving twins sought to withdraw from the case, citing the arrest of Richard Allen on charges of molesting a minor.

"We don't think it advisable, with this type of charge pending, to go forward representing someone seeking custody of a child," said Lynn Lisk of Little Rock.

Lisk filed a petition with a state court to withdraw as attorney for Richard and Vickie Allen of San Bernardino, California, one day after Richard Allen's arrest for allegedly molesting two teenaged baby sitters.

The Allens are one of two couples claiming custody of twin daughters adopted through an Internet agency. The Allens paid the agency several thousand dollars last year and took custody of the twins.

But within weeks the birth mother, Tranda Wecker of St Louis, Missouri, asked to see the babies for a farewell meeting and apparently drove with them to Arkansas, where they were adopted by a Welsh couple, Alan and Judith Kilshaw, who paid the same adoption service for the twins.

In January, Lisk filed a petition in behalf of the Allens to void the adoption of the twins by the Kilshaws.

Lisk noted that Arkansas law required that either adoptive parents or a birth mother must reside in the state for 30 days prior to an adoption, and said neither the Kilshaws nor Wecker had met that requirement.

With both couples claiming custody of the twin girls, who were born on June 26, British Social Services took custody of the infants.

Also on Thursday, a judge in St Louis ruled that the twins should be returned to Missouri for a determination of proper custody, according to a lawyer for Wecker.

The judge in the case in St Louis Circuit Court, Steve Ohmer, has sealed the case and disclosed no details.

But Bryan Hettenbach, an attorney for Wecker, said after a hearing that the judge had ruled that the custody issue should be decided in St Louis, and that the children should be returned from Britain.

The biological father, Aaron Wecker, was also at the hearing. The couple separated shortly after the twin girls were born in St Louis.

In California, Richard Allen, who was jailed in lieu of $100,000 bail, is to undergo a hearing on Friday. California police said they arrested him after complaints of molestation from two teenaged girls who baby sat for the Allens, who have one child of their own.

Allen was arrested at his home on Wednesday after a county judge issued a warrant on probable cause, San Bernardino Sheriff's spokeswoman Cindy Beavers said.

Beavers said a 13-year-old girl contacted sheriff's investigators on Feb. 20 and told them that she had been molested by Allen at his home, where she had been baby sitting.

After further probing, investigators questioned the girl's 14-year-old sister, who told them she also had been molested by Allen multiple times in his home, Beavers said. The alleged attacks began in 1999, the girl told police.