Switched at Birth

Infobox Film
name = Switched at Birth


caption = Video cover
director = Waris Hussein
producer = Ervin Zavada
writer = Michael O'Hara
narrator =
starring = Bonnie Bedelia
Brian Kerwin
John M. Jackson
Ariana Richards
Erika Flores
music = Marvin Hamlisch
cinematography = Robert Steadman
editing = Paul Dixon
James Galloway
distributor = Columbia Pictures Television
released = April 28 1991
runtime = 186 mins
country = USA
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0103017

"Switched at Birth" is a 1991 Television film directed by Waris Hussein. It is based on the true story of Kimberly Mays and Arlena Twigg, babies switched soon after birth in a Florida hospital in 1978.

Factual basis

Kimberly Mays (born November 1978) was born in a Wauchula, Florida, hospital and switched at birth with Arlena Twigg, a girl who died at age nine (Aug 1988) of complications following surgery for a heart defect. Mays was the subject of a bitter custody battle in the late 1980s and early 1990s between her biological parents, Ernest and Regina Twigg of Sebring, Florida, and Bob Mays, the man who raised her after she was switched at birth. Though Mays won the right to stay with Bob Mays in a 1993 Florida court proceeding, she later ran away from Bob Mays and moved in with the Twiggs. Her early adulthood was troubled, as she battled marital woes and lost custody of her own child for a time.

The court battle was the subject of a 1991 television movie called Switched at Birth. The case was also the subject of a book "The Baby Swap Conspiracy" by Loretta Schwarz-Nobel.

Kimberly Mays and Arlena Twigg were born within a few days of each other in 1978. Kimberly went home with Bob Mays and his wife, who died a few years later. The Twiggs took home the Mays' biological daughter, whom they named Arlena. The Twiggs learned that Arlena had the wrong blood type to be their biological daughter. Following Arlena's death, the Twiggs sought information about their biological daughter and located Kimberly Mays. Bob Mays agreed in 1989 to grant the Twiggs visitation rights to Kimberly, but later cut off the visits. The Twiggs sued for increased visitation or custody of Kimberly. A Wauchula, Florida circuit court ruled in 1993 that Kimberly would be allowed to cut off all contacts with her biological family and that Bob Mays was her psychological father.cite web | author= | year= | title = "Balancing Parent's Rights Vs. The Best Interest of Children| Work= "Phillips, Morrison, Johnson, and Ferrell" | url=http://www.phil-mor.com/articles/parents_rights_2.htm| accessdate= May 13| accessyear=2007]

Plot

When Arlena Twigg becomes ill, a blood test reveals that she is not the biological daughter of Regina and Ernest Twigg. When Arlena dies at the age of nine, her parents search for their biological daughter who is being raised as Kimberly Mays.

Cast

*Bonnie Bedelia — Regina Twigg
*Brian Kerwin — Robert Mays
*John M. Jackson — Ernest Twigg
*Eve Gordon — Darlena
*Judith Hoag — Barbara Mays
*Caroline McWilliams — Lois Morehead
*Lois Smith — Margaret
*Kelli Williams — Irisa
*Ariana Richards — Kimberly Mays, Age 9-11
*Erika Flores — Arlena Twigg, Age 9-11
*Edward Asner — Ted Marx
*Beth Grant — Sophie
*Rance Howard — Frank Hill
*Vivian Bonnell — Nurse Ford
*Jacqueline Scott — Ruth Mays

References