Australian couple abandoned surrogate twin baby boy in India despite warnings

Emails and cables between the Australian High Commission in New Delhi and Government officials in Canberra reveal the couple travelled to India late in 2012 to seek citizenship for a baby girl but told consular staff they would be leaving her twin brother behind..

According to the documents, the Australian man then misled consular staff when he told them he would be giving the boy to some friends in India "who were unable to conceive a child"...

By January 14, 2013, a further cable revealed the High Commission's concern with its own decision making.

"The risks involved include that the child becomes stateless and their welfare is compromised," the cable said.

"We are therefore concerned that our approach would leave us exposed to media and parliamentary scrutiny."

DFAT said the boy was formally adopted in India, although no documentation supporting that has been made public.

When the ABC first revealed the case in October last year, the Chief Justice of the Family Court, Diana Bryant, said she had been told by concerned consular staff the baby may have been sold.

"They expressed to me that in fact money had changed hands, and if that's true, then that's basically trafficking children," she said.

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zwiebel said:

An Australian couple who went to India in 2012 to collect a surrogate baby girl, left her healthy twin brother behind because they 'could not afford him and only wanted a girl to complete their family'.

Now newly released (but heavily redacted) government documents have shown that Australian officials were aware the couple were from NSW where it's illegal to engage in international surrogacy, that they repeatedly warned the couple the baby boy could be left stateless, but still gave the green light for the couple to take just the baby girl back to Australia.

Bolded by me:


http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-...ndon-baby-boy-in-india-surrogacy-case/6387206

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