They didn't look like happy babies to me

Judith Wenban-Smith

Their natural mother, Tranda Wecker, put them up for adoption soon after their birth.

The girls first went to an American couple, who raised them for two months before Ms Wecker snatched them back last December under the pretext of saying a final farewell.

She then handed the girls to Judith and Alan Kilshaw, of north Wales, who dashed to Arkansas to file for a quickie adoption.

Now the twins are in temporary foster care, leaving many people to wonder what the impact on the girls must be.

Child psychologist Judith Wenban-Smith says that such disruption is likely to have unsettled the six-month-old twins.

"In general, infants cope with change better than older children. But they can't understand why change has happened, as an older child can, and they have fewer ways of showing discomfort."

Cross-country chase

Not only have the twins had to get used to new faces and new routines, the circumstances have been chaotic and highly emotional, Mrs Wenban-Smith says.

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"Driving across the United States, pursued by the first adoptive parents, is not a way of life that's conducive to putting the children's needs first.

"If removal from the first carer is necessary, the transfer should have been as controlled as possible - and certainly not a sudden hand-over."

In the first year of life, the primary task is to learn trust, she says. And babies learn to trust people in the same way any of us do - by forming caring, stable bonds.

Media circus

Mrs Wenban-Smith is also concerned that the Kilshaws put the twins centre-stage in the media circus surrounding the adoption.

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"They didn't look like happy babies to me. They should have kept them in a separate room, well out of the way, when they were talking to the media," Mrs Wenban-Smith says.

But Dr Michael Humphery says the girls will probably suffer no long-term effects if the issue of their parentage is resolved quickly, and in their best interests.

"It's what happens between the ages of six months and two years that makes a lasting impact."

In the meantime, the temporary foster parents can be expected to provide the twins with the best possible care, he says.

"Twins can also form their own special world together. It's possible that they can be sufficient to each other not to need to bond with anyone else."