If life had turned out slightly differently, there would be children scampering across the carpet in Sandeep and Reena Mander's beautiful home in Berkshire, UK.
Upstairs, their four spare bedrooms would be cluttered with cots and toys.
Instead, we sit sipping tea in the immaculate living room, contemplating a silence they are desperate to fill.
The UK-born couple have found themselves propelled into the centre of a national storm over wanting to adopt and raise a child of their own.
The Manders, whose parents came to the UK from Punjab as children, have launched legal action against the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead and its adoption service Adopt Berkshire after being refused permission to adopt a white child because of their "cultural heritage".
After failing to conceive naturally and undergoing a brutal six years of fertility treatments, the couple, who are in their early 30s and work in senior professional jobs, approached their local council to be considered for adoption. But they claim they were told that because the council had only white babies on its register, they would not even be allowed to apply.
- The Daily Telegraph
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