Over 20 children removed from a home in the Los Angeles suburb of Arcadia were the latest victims of IVF and surrogate reproductive technologies in a case now being investigated by the FBI. The legal guardians of the 21 children, Siliva Zhang and Guojun Xuan, have been arrested on charges of child abuse and neglect, and are allegedly under investigation for a large-scale crime ring. The consequences of their twisted surrogacy practices are still unclear.
Arcadia police were alerted to the potential crimes when a 2-month-old baby was brought into the hospital for severe injuries and seizures. Afterwards, police obtained a search warrant; via security footage, they discovered that 15 children were emotionally and physically abused by six different nannies at the house, which was set up as a school.
There were another six children associated with Zhang and Xuan living with family and friends. The children’s ages were between 2 months and 13 years old. When it became clear to Arcadia police that the situation was “something outside the scope of [their] local investigative abilities,” Lt. Kollin Ciraldo said that the FBI was contacted.
Reportedly, many, if not all, of the children were born via surrogacy. Several of the surrogate mothers have been identified and say they were misled into carrying children for the couple. One of the surrogate mothers, Kayla Elliott of Texas, has been vocal about her experience with the couple as well as her concerns and suspicions surrounding their operation.
Kayla expressed that she was led to believe she was carrying a child for a couple struggling with infertility. After finding out the fate of the child she carried, Elliott claims she was “hysterical.”
“You just don’t expect that you’re going to… hand the baby over to their parents and then… find out that there was abuse and neglect going on,” she said.
Elliott was recruited to carry the child by Mark Surrogacy Investment LLC, allegedly now called Future Spring Surrogacy. The agency reportedly told her that Zhang and Xuan were a couple with one child and struggling to conceive a second time.
Later, it was revealed that Mark Surrogacy was registered at Zhang and Xuan’s Arcadia home, where the children were discovered.
Two weeks ago, in a groundbreaking interview with Kallie Fell, executive director of the Center for Bioethics & Culture Network, Kayla alleged that Zhang and Xuan were the same individuals who contacted her and set her up as a surrogate mother. As the owners of the agency, the couple allegedly recruited a massive number of women to carry children for them. Some women are still pregnant with surrogate children for Zhang and Xuan.
Elliott, who is now trying to adopt the child she bore, described her birth story as extremely transactional and void of emotion. She additionally reported that many other women who were or continue to be surrogate mothers for the couple have experienced the same coldness when dealing with the alleged parents.
It is difficult to imagine how these atrocities were left unnoticed long enough for Zhang and Xuan to gather 21 children. Moreover, it is almost unbelievable that such conduct would be legal in the United States. Unfortunately, it appears that aside from the abuse endured by the children, Zhang and Xuan followed California’s surrogacy rules.
“Legally, they don’t have to disclose that they’re doing a dual surrogacy,” Kayla said, “However, ethically, you would think that that would be included.”
According to Fell, “there are no laws against hiring multiple surrogate mothers at a time” in California. Presumably, had the children’s abuse not been discovered, Zhang and Xuan could have kept hiring multiple surrogates at once, adding more children to their home at a rapid pace.
Furthermore, according to Sunshine Hanson, the founder and president of Surrogacy Is, there are no restrictions on who can open a surrogacy agency in the Golden State. Hanson told KTLA 5 that there are no licensing requirements for such agencies.
“[They] are expected to follow [the American Society for Reproductive Medicine’s] guidelines, but they’re guidelines,” she reported. “They’re not hard and fast rules and there’s no enforcement.”
Many complications surrounding IVF and surrogacy have surfaced recently, as the practices become more popular. Hanson is not surprised that this scandal occurred: “This isn’t the only story like this, and this is maybe the only one where we actually know where the children are,” she lamented.
The suspicion surrounding Zhang and Xuan’s actions is that the children were being trafficked, potentially to families in China. It is unclear if Zhang or Xuan were the true biological parents of the children. As the FBI continues to investigate the case, America must pray for justice, not only for these 21 children, but for children born into danger and confusion because of surrogacy and IVF nationwide.