Kimberly Mays, switched at birth and whose custody became a national news tug of war between two families, has lost custody of her young son.
The Department of Children & Families last week removed Mays’ son, Devin Weeks, and placed the boy, who will turn 2 in August, in foster care, sources familiar with the case said.
Officials declined to release details, citing confidentiality laws. Officials plan to ask a judge today for permission to discuss the case, spokeswoman Lisa Hutcheson said.
The state has authority to remove children from parental custody because of abuse, neglect or abandonment.
Mays, 20, of Orlando, could not be reached for comment.
Mays was switched at birth in 1978 at a Wauchula, Fla., hospital with another baby raised by Regina and Ernest Twigg. The mix-up was discovered only in 1988, when tests showed the girl the Twiggs raised was not their biological daughter. That child, Arlena Twigg, died of heart disease.
Kimberly grew up with Robert Mays on Florida’s west coast. The Twiggs fought Mays for custody.
The five-year battle ended when a judge ruled that the Twiggs had no legal rights to act as her parents or visit her. Kimberly later ran away from Mays and moved in with the Twiggs.
She also ran away from the Twiggs several times. She later reconciled with both families.
In 1997, Kimberly, then 18, married Jeremy Weeks.
On the television show American Journal, she described giving birth to her son in a hospital and taking steps to ensure he didn’t go home with the wrong family.
