The extraordinary case of the twin boy left behind in India was first revealed by Foreign Correspondent and ABC News earlier in 2015. But his identity and fate stayed a mystery.
"It's a criminal offence in many places. I think it's an appalling thing." - Australian judge
The decision of the Australian adoptive parents shocked senior Australian judges interviewed by Foreign Correspondent.
"Was the child sold? Was the child left on the street? What has happened to the child?" - Australian judge
"Whether he's been placed in a rich, well to do family where he gets every amenity, we don't know." - Arun Dohle, child protection advocate
Reporter Samantha Hawley teams up with two Indian child protection campaigners as they weave through Delhi's labyrinthine bureaucracy and backstreets on a hunt for the twins' birth records, the boy's adoption papers and details of the surrogate mother and Australian parents.
Hawley reveals how the case worried Australian consular officials in Delhi. Australian High Commission staff tried desperately to persuade the Australian family to take both twins back home.
But Canberra sent approval for citizenship and a single passport to be given to just one child - the girl - despite international commercial surrogacy being outlawed in the Australian parents' home state.
"I would describe it as aiding and abetting the Australian couple abandoning the child." - senior New Delhi lawyer Shekhar Naphade
"We have done everything legal." - Australian father of the boy left behind
In this tragic story about one baby boy who became the by-product of an unruly $500 million industry, two leading judges tell Foreign Correspondent it's now time for the Australian Government to take a lead in reforming the system.
Read the DFAT response here: ab.co/2P8IP1U
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About Foreign Correspondent:
Foreign Correspondent is the prime-time international public affairs program on Australia's national broadcaster, ABC-TV. We produce half-hour duration in-depth reports for broadcast across the ABC's television channels and digital platforms. Since 1992, our teams have journeyed to more than 170 countries to report on war, natural calamity and social and political upheaval - through the eyes of the people at the heart of it all.
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17 авг 2019
