
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, September 19, 1993                   TAG: 9309190105
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: SARASOTA, FLA.                                LENGTH: Short

NOW KIMBERLY MAYS ADOPTED BY STEPMOM

Kimberly Mays, the 14-year-old who "divorced" her birth parents in favor of the family that raised her, has been legally adopted by her stepmother.

Sarasota Circuit Judge Becky Titus granted the adoption Friday by Darlena Mays. She is married to Robert Mays, the man who raised Kimberly. "There is a bond of love that should not be broken," Titus said.

"Thank you!" a jubilant Kimberly cried.

A month ago, a judge affirmed Mays' custody of Kimberly and said biological parents Ernest and Regina Twigg have "no legal interest in or right" to the girl.

The two families have been fighting over Kimberly since 1988, when it was discovered that delivery room tags were switched at the hospital where Kimberly was born in December 1978.

- Associated Press

by CNB