TWO girls whose siblings sparked the Orkney child abuse allegations are to be adopted against their mother's wishes and despite the fact that allegations against her have never been proved.

Yesterday, in a written judgment issued at the Court of Session in Edinburgh, Lord Abernethy ruled that the girls from family ``W'' would be better off with their foster parents and said that they had had no contact with their mother for several years.

The plight of family ``W'' led to an extraordinary chain of events which saw another group of children snatched from their homes at dawn. Later, social services were put under the spotlight during Lord Clyde's inquiry.

The girls, now aged 13 and 10, were first taken into care in June 1989 after claims of sexual abuse. They were briefly returned home, but in 1990 were taken back into care, along with six of their brothers and sisters, after fears of inter-sibling abuse.

Their father had been jailed in 1987 for sexual offences against some of the children.

Later, during disclosure therapy, some of the children, aged between four and 15 at the time, made allegations of satanic ritual abuse. The claims led to nine children being taken from their homes during a dawn raid in March 1991.

The nine were subsequently reunited with their parents and, during the inquiry that followed, Orkney Islands Council was heavily criticised by Lord Clyde. In 1995, the four families received a total of #40,000 compensation and a full apology from the local authority.

Despite a long-running campaign, members of family ``W'' were never returned to their mother.

The sisters were placed in the care of foster parents on the mainland, who applied to the Court of Session to adopt them. The move was opposed by their natural mother, who wanted them to remain in long-term foster care.

In an 81-page judgment, Lord Abernethy said the mother had access visits to her daughters, but these stopped in September 1992. Since that last visit, neither girl had expressed a wish to see her, and their present position was that they did not want to see her now.

Over the years, the mother has sent Christmas and birthday presents to the girls, but they had not sent anything to her.

The natural mother told an adoption expert that she missed them deeply but said: ``I don't deserve my younger children, morally. I have failed the older children.''

Lord Abernethy said: ``The girls' needs would be best fulfilled by remaining in the foster family. This is the clearly expressed wish, and the application for their adoption by the couple indicates their commitment to the girls.''

The judge said the mother wanted the girls to stay with the couple on the basis of long-term foster care, as she regarded adoption as a final act. She believed that adoption would make it difficult for the girls' older brothers and sisters to have contact with them, which she felt was important.

However, Lord Abernethy held that adoption would be in the best interests of the girls.

He revealed that the girls were each awarded #20,000 by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board after abuse claims. The money will be held in trust until they are 18.

The award was made despite the fact that it had never been established that the girls had been sexually abused.

In granting the adoption to the Highland couple, the judge said he hoped the girls would have more contact with their natural family.