Dozens of French and American would-be parents are marooned in Cambodia since the

Government suspended adoptions on May 15.

A spokeswoman for the US embassy, Carol Rodley, said she has only had anecdotal accounts

of those stranded. She said she believed that US adoption agencies had warned prospective

parents that a crackdown was imminent, so many had avoided getting stranded.

A French journalist investigating the story said the French Embassy had asked him

to play down the story because they were trying to clear the back log of French families

now stranded in Cambodia with their newly adopted children.