Govt accused of slow response in adoption scandal

2nd September 2008, 19:15 WST

Australians who may have adopted Indian children stolen from their birth parents have been left in the dark by the federal government, the coalition says.   

It is believed that at least 30 children adopted in Australia may have been stolen from their parents by a child trafficking ring operating in India between 1998 and 1999.   

Opposition justice spokesman Christopher Pyne says the government isn't doing enough to assist the Australian adoptive parents.   

"All he (Attorney-General Robert McClelland) is doing in reality is deferring the matter to the courts and hoping for the best," Mr Pyne told parliament today.   

The attorney-general had not assured Australian parents they would not face expensive court action in India, had not promised government assistance, or said whether new legislation was planned to deal with similar situations in the future, Mr Pyne said.   

Mr Pyne also asked whether the Rudd government was implementing the recommendations of a 2005 lower house committee inquiry into overseas adoption, including transferring primary responsibility for the management of intercountry adoption programs to the commonwealth.   

"The government needs to take national leadership now," he said.   

But Mr McClelland said the government was reforming the bureaucracy associated with intercountry adoption and was implementing the recommendations of the 2005 committee inquiry.   

The commonwealth had signed a new agreement with the states and territories which continued to have responsibility of all adoptions in Australia, the attorney-general said.   

The intercountry adoption program between Australia and India remains open but Australia is no longer dealing with the agencies allegedly involved in child trafficking.   

"In light of these allegations we will be very careful in monitoring the agencies with which Australia has working relationships," Mr McClelland said.   

Mr McClelland said birth parents had rights under the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption to seek the return of their children, but the adoptive parents also had rights "to meet any such application".   

But the primary concern was "the best interest of the child", he said.   

"These aren't issues for politicians to deliberate on they are heart-wrenching issues for a court to deliberate on and that is appropriate."   

Mr McClelland said the government was seeking an official response from the Indian authorities.