1.
SVS ADOPTIVE PARENTS CARRYING BABIES (8 shots)
0.50

2.
CU WOMAN HOLDING BABY
1.00



Initials AH/0442



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Fifteen of the youngest victims of the civil war in Bangladesh -- unwanted babies born in refugee camps -- were flown to Canada yesterday (Friday) bound for new homes in Montreal and Toronto.

Most of the babies, aged between eight months and only two weeks, had lost their fathers in the fighting. Their mothers lacked the means to bring them up.

One of he Canadians visited Bangladesh before deciding to adopt a child. He told reporters that while he was there he saw three babies die in an orphanage.

SYNOPSIS: The tragedy of the war in Bangladesh still goes on. Some of the youngest victims of last year's fighting -- unwanted babies born in refugee camps -- were flown to Canada at the weekend. They are being adopted by families living in Montreal and Toronto. The Canadian organisation "Families for Children" cut through official red tape to arrange the adoptions. A spokesman for the organisation said that most of the babies had lost their fathers in the wear and that their mothers lacked the means to bring them up. Ages of the babies ranged from eight months to just a couple of weeks. The oldest, not born in a refugee camp, was found last December aboard an abandoned Pakistan navy boat. Another three babies have been adopted by Swedish families -- a small beginning towards solving the major problem of the unwanted wartime babies of Bangladesh.