Two fifteen year old identical twin girls in Ecuador have met for the first time. They were seperated at birth. The mother says she was not informed she had twins, but the doctor who delivered, (and adopted) the second girl disputes that, saying the mother was told, but wanted only one.
So now the mother has filed suit, and wants the other girl back. Rather unsurprisingly, the girl doesn’t want to go, saying her adoptive parents raised her well, and that if the biological mother really loves her she will leave her where she is.
The twins must have spent some time together now, as the photo in the article shows them dressed exactly alike.
It makes me wonder who’s telling the truth in this story. The article doesn’t mention if the adoptive parents told the girls she’s adopted, but since the article didn’t mention any great shock maybe they did.
Not that anyone asked little ol’ me, but I think at this point, since the daughter doesn’t want to leave her adopted family, they should leave her with them and pursue a relationship. It should be up to her. I doubt they’ll ever find out what really happened in that delivery room. I certainly feel bad for the birth mother, but at this point, I think a relationship with the girl is all she can hope for.
From the article, I gathered that since the birth mother was (allegedly) never informed that there were two babies, she did not legally and/or consensually give up her rights to that particular child.
Is everybody missing an important point, in that the doctor delivering the babies kept one? Sounds like a plan to get a kid to me. Never tell the woman she has twins, and then sneak away with one. The doctor and wife raise her as their daughter.
In cases like this it’s important to include the teens wishes into the judgment.
I’m sorry, I just don’t see how this would be somehow beneficial to the couple. Adoption isn’t that difficult anyway, especially not so for a doctor and his wife. I just fail to see how “He must have STOLEN HER!” is the obvious answer.
If this had happened to me, I could have talked to the other girl for an hour and not notice that they are twins. Even with the matching outfits, they don’t look that similar.
At any rate, what do the documents from the adopted girl say? Does her birth certificate acknowledge the biological mother? Are there any adoption documents? IANAL, but I can’t imagine the documents not telling the story for anyone who knows what to look for.
I have to admit that I am biased on this issue, being adopted myself. I can assuredly say that if my biological mother had shown up when I was 15 and had wanted to take me away, I would have been freaked out beyond belief…and it wouldn’t have mattered to me one bit if she told me this story, either. One thing that people don’t seem to get about adoption, is that generally, adoptees don’t go through life thinking, “well, this family is OK, but I don’t really feel like part of it. If my real mother came along, I’m sure I would be much happier with her.” The adoptees I know actually feel pretty darn bonded to their adopted family. My younger sister & brother are biological siblings, and both of them would say that they are no closer to each other, or feel “more” like siblings to each other than they do to me and our older brother, who are the adopted ones.
So, all that being said, I would certainly hope that the girl’s wishes would be the deciding factor on this one.
So your an immigrant from Ecuador that has experience with adoption in that country?
What guarantees a kid for a childless couple better than a pregnant lady giving birth to twins when the doctor doesn’t tell her? There is a black market for kids, because not everybody can adopt a kid when they want to.
I’d like to know what the birth certificate says for the parents. They didn’t fill out adoption papers, so what about the birth certificate? Are the doctor and nurse listed as parents or are the true parents listed. It should have the original parents on it if no deceit was meant.
If the doctors really did kidnap her, the girl shouldn’t be able to stay with them, as they should be going to jail. Situations where biological parents pop up years later having never given up their rights are sad, since there really is no way to make things right for all parties.
Did the girl’s (adoptive) mother know that the bio mother wasn’t aware? if not, it’s not really her fault, is it? I wouldn’t be in favor of punishing her by depriving her of her child in that case.
Whoever was the perpetrator of the kidnapping should indeed go to jail. However, that’s a separate issue from where the children end up, IMO. If both parents end up being convicted, then the child should go to another close relative, or whoever she would end up with if the parents were convicted on any other crime. Just because the parents have to go to jail and can’t care for her doesn’t necessarily mean that they should be sent back to the bio parents.
According to the article, both the adoptive mother and father were doctors, and both were present at the delivery. I don’t see how one of them wouldn’t have realized that the other wasn’t mentioning the existence of the other baby. Plus even if one of them didn’t know, someone is still missing out on the experience of raising their daughter. Whether it’s the adoptive parent, or the parents who didn’t know she even existed.
Sarahfeena, good point. I hadn’t thought of that. At her age, it really would be too late to just give her back to the biological family. I do feel that the girl’s biological parents should have some form of access to her*, even if it’s just reguar visitation.
*Assuming that their story is correct. If they did give her up willingly, they’ll just need to wait until she’s an adult.
Interesting responses, I hadn’t thought of some of the issues.
I seem to remember years ago hearing a story about two boys who’d been accidentally switched in the hospital, when they were born. This was found out at the age of thirteen, because of some blood tests. One kid grew up in Mexico, and the other family went to the US. When this was finally discovered the two families met and discussed the matter, and each one kept the kid they’d raised, while deciding to pursue a relationship. That was civilized of them, and apparently what the boys both wanted. I wonder how life was for them further down the line, if it all worked out.
At 15, taking the girl away from her adoptive family and putting her against her will with her birth family is a worse kidnapping, in my opinion. I don’t suppose we’ll have follow-up with this story, but I’d be interested to see how it plays out. If it is basically one couple’s word against the other’s, I don’t know how a judge would decide this, especially since the possible default of siding with the birth parents ends up being detrimental to the 15 year old who was allegedly adopted.
As professionals and theoretically smart people, did it never occur to the adoptive doctors that maybe they should do a little paperwork on the adoption?
I wonder what the adopted girl’s birth certificate says and whether it’s possible lack of authenticity can be established. That would seem to go a long way towards figuring this out *if * there is something off about it.
I understand the girl wanting to stay with her adoptive parents now, but if such a birth certificate check leads to incriminating evidence against her now-parents, it is possible that would change things.
I think it would be best to just let the kid stay with the doctors IF it had been an honest mistake like those “Switched at birth” situations. However, if the birthmom’s version of things is true and they stole the kid from her, I have to side with the birthmom here.
It doesn’t matter if they’ve done a better job raising the kid than she would have.
It’s still her kid and unless she signed away her rights voluntarily then I think she deserves to have the final say on what happens to her child, no matter what anyone else might think is best for the kid…including the kid. Since it’s apparently not unusual in kidnapping cases for the captive person to end up feeling loyalty to the kidnapper even when tehy are mistreated (the “Stockholm syndrome” thing), one could even argue that the only reason the girl wants to stay with these people is because she’s been brainwashed all her life by them. To me, it doesn’t mean they really have any claim on her. Just because they happened to get away with it for a long time doesn’t make it okay, in my view.
