Kidnapping Her Own Kids

Acting on a tip, the Ottawa police found Quets and the twins. She waived extradition and was transferred to North Carolina in early January. She pleaded guilty in September after being advised by her lawyer that the government had a very strong case. On Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge James Dever III in Raleigh sentenced Quets—who had pleaded guilty to international parental kidnapping in September—to time served and five years of probation. Quets had been held in the Franklin County Jail in Raleigh for eight months. The judge also imposed a $15,000 fine.

The U.S. attorney in the case, John Bowler, suggested that Quets did not appear to regret fleeing with her children. "We hoped she would show remorse and respect to the suffering of the parents," he told the court.

Quets, a former engineer for Lockheed Martin, says she has spent more than $400,000 trying to win custody of the children. In the ruling, Judge Dever referred to Quets as "the kidnapper" and ordered her to stay away from the children. The birth mother has not seen her children, who are now about two and a half years old, since her arrest on Dec. 29, 2006.

Friends of the Needham family posted on their Web site this week a statement from the adoptive parents: "Our lives will always feel less secure now that we know Ms. Quets will do something as extreme as kidnapping Holly and Tyler … In the end, our job is to make sure that Holly and Tyler have wonderful lives—that they grow up confident in the fact that they are wanted and loved unconditionally, and that they know their story as they are old enough to understand it."

According to court records, Quets met with the Needhams five weeks after the birth, but at the time balked at placing her children with them. She changed her mind days later, signing a consent for adoption and terminating her parental rights on Aug. 16, 2005. Quets changed her mind again almost immediately and began fighting to overturn the decree in court. (Only 17 states allow a mother a period of time in which to change her mind, ranging from three to 30 days. In the rest of the country the decision is considered final upon the mother's signature.)

Experts on adoption say the case is extremely rare. "This is a man-bites-dog story," said Adam Pertman, executive director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, a policy and research leader in the field. "And thank God it is rare. It may give us insight into larger issues, but this case is an aberration." Quets's story does point up how women, especially if they are physically ill or emotionally troubled, need to be sufficiently counseled about the rights—and children—they are signing away.