Australian adoptees may be kidnap victims

CANBERRA, Australia, Aug. 24 (UPI) -- At least 13 Australian families may have to return Indian children they adopted almost a decade ago, officials said.

The families and children were victims of a criminal operation that kidnapped children and sold them to an adoption agency, Malaysia Social Services, based in the Indian city of Chennai or Madras, The Brisbane Times reported. A Time magazine report said a 9-year-old girl, Zabeen, now living in Queensland, was kidnapped in Chennai when she was 2.

In Australia, provincial and federal authorities have begun their own investigations, the Times said.

''These allegations demonstrate why it is necessary to maintain rigid procedural safeguards to ensure the integrity of the overseas adoption system and, in particular, to avoid the exploitation of children,'' said Robert McClelland, the Australian attorney general.

McLelland's office reports that between 1997 and 2007 Australian families adopted more than 300 Indian children, accounting for about 10 percent of overseas adoptions.