Quets continues fight for children

Despite legal reverses, she still hopes to regain custody of the twins she bore

Despite overwhelming odds, Allison Quets is not done fighting for the twins she gave up and then abducted.

Legal experts say the two main issues that would have allowed her to see the twins, Holly and Tyler, have been decided. But Quets clings to the hope that someday a court will rule in her favor.

"Sooner or later, we're going to find the right court and the right judge," Quets said in a recent interview, "and I know this will be rectified."

For more than two years, Quets has been in a bitter custody dispute with the twins' adoptive parents, Kevin and Denise Needham of Apex. The Needhams couldn't be reached for comment, but a family friend, Kat Moncol, said Quets' quest is futile.

"After she kidnapped the children, she doesn't have a chance to see them at all," Moncol said. "It was totally inappropriate."

A reunion with Holly and Tyler doesn't look likely for Quets. Her money is dwindling, and she has tapped funds that would have been used for the twins' education. She's jobless, living with her father in the mountains under the strict conditions of probation.

As her legal options fade, Quets is not only championing her own cause, she has cast herself in the role of advocate for birth mothers' rights. She has started an online petition to try to make public the terms of adoption agreements.

"I don't want this to happen to other women," Quets said.

Mothers who think they have been wronged in the adoption process have posted comments to the Web site. So far, more than 60 people have signed the petition to open records in adoption cases. According to the Web site, www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Unseal-And-Reveal, Quets' goal is to reach 2,000 signatures. Quets said she plans to submit the petition to a judge in Florida who has presided over her case, and to Florida's governor, Charlie Crist.

"With sealed records, there is no accountability of the parties involved, and no chance to protect my family's rights, no chance for anyone to protect his/her rights if they are ignored," Quets said in a statement on the Web site.

Quets said unsealing the records would show that she was always supposed to be a part of the twins' lives.

Something missing

For years, Quets' life was built around her desire to be a parent. She was a successful systems engineer, but something was missing in her life, she said.

"I had 21 years at Lockheed Martin, two master's degrees, and I had lived a perfectly upstanding life," Quets said. "I wanted children."

In 2004, Quets became pregnant through in vitro fertilization. After a draining, difficult pregnancy in Florida, she signed papers giving custody to the Needhams. Hours later she wanted the children back, claiming she signed under duress, but it was too late.

A legal battle began, though Quets was still allowed to visit the twins. At Christmastime in 2006, she quit her job and whisked the children away to a bed-and-breakfast in Canada. She made the FBI's wanted list and was arrested Dec. 29, charged with international parental kidnapping and state charges of second-degree kidnapping. She spent eight months in a Franklin County jail, awaiting trial.

She was set free in December, after a judge sentenced her to five years' probation. A month later, a Wake County District Court judge blocked Quets' attempt at visitation.

Custody cases in Florida, where the twins were born, have been closed with rulings in the Needhams' favor. Quets has appealed the Wake County judge's ruling on visitation rights.

While the appeal is pending, she is confronted with a new set of challenges -- finding steady income and starting her life anew.