David and Ally have yet to receive official confirmation from authorities that Marcus is one of the allegedly trafficked babies. But the BBC has found clear signs, which have been shared with the couple.
Going through court documents, we found Marcus’s full Indonesian name listed as one of the allegedly trafficked babies.
One woman on trial, who is accused of falsely declaring she is the biological mother of some of the babies, is listed as Marcus’s mother in his Indonesian adoption papers.
Separately, the Indonesian branch of Interpol has identified the Singaporean adoption agency that handled the babies. It is the same agency that offered Marcus to David and Ally.
The agency is still registered as a live business in Singapore. The BBC tried contacting the agency’s owner but has yet to receive a response.
Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) declined to respond to the BBC’s questions on whether it was investigating the agency and Lie Siu Luan’s alleged Singapore collaborators, noting that Indonesian court proceedings were still ongoing.
It pointed the BBC to to previous statements where the MHA, along with the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF), said they were working with Indonesian counterparts to assist investigations.
Since news broke of the latest case, lawmakers have repeatedly raised it in parliament.
One pointed out that the children’s adoptions had been approved based on government officers’ recommendations, and that the adoptive parents “are innocent parties that have done every step in accordance with the law”.
But the MSF argued that adoption agencies are responsible for ensuring their babies come from “appropriate sources” and must do rigorous checks, and that adoptive parents must also do their due diligence.
David and Ally say the possibility that Marcus could have been trafficked never once crossed their minds.
They said they tried their best to do their own background checks but were limited in their lack of knowledge. It was, after all, the first time they had ever adopted a child.
The couple argue that the onus is on the Singapore government, given that its officials had done thorough checks on them during the approval process for Marcus’s adoption.
“The [officials] are the experts on this, to see whether this is legitimate. They deal with so many adoptions, day in day out. Not us,” said Ally.
The MSF declined to answer the BBC’s questions on whether it did any checks on the babies who entered Singapore and how it usually conducts checks on the adoptions of foreign children.
It pointed to previous statements saying it was providing support to the affected parents and there were “some delays” in processing citizenship applications for their children.
The ministry has also promised to conduct a review of adoption processes.
