A British couple is facing the harrowing prospect of leaving their four-month-old baby in an orphanage in India due to the British passport office’s failure to issue the baby her travel documents.
Baby Lily was born through surrogacy in India after Michele Newman failed to conceive despite trying for years.
Her husband says they are terrified at the prospect of leaving baby Lily alone in the country as they have no assurance from the British officials that baby Lily’s passport will be ready in time that the Newmans have been waiting for since 3 June.
“A Consular office in Mumbai reiterated a couple of times that we should be prepared to leave our daughter here in this country and we should make preparations for that case,” he told The Telegraph.
The Newmans have been in India on medical visas which expire on 7 October.
Baby Lily Source: Facebook
The British Home Office says the passport for baby Lily will only be issued after thorough checks which may take up to months.
The couple has now started an online petition to press their government to issue a passport before their own visas expire.
“We have already been told twice now by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office that we should be prepared to leave Lily. It is madness that UK Government and HMPO is so willing to safeguard the well-being of a baby applicant to ensure that it hasn't been trafficked, that it is happy for that child to be left without its parents in a foreign country with a complete stranger. Whilst I understand that checks have to be done, I would also hope that common sense would prevail, after all a simple DNA test would prove that Chris is the biological father," says the Newmans' petition.
India’s foreign minister Sushma Swaraj questioned the British authorities over the predicament of the Newmans.
“Should orphanage be the destiny of a surrogate baby?” Ms Swaraj tweeted.
Lily is among the last babies to be born to foreign parents after India banned commercial international surrogacy last year.
Indian cabinet approved tougher surrogacy laws earlier this year allowing only altruistic surrogacy.
