More Than 20 Kids Taken by CPS in Investigation of Surrogate Agency

When California investigators in a child abuse case visited the alleged crime scene and found over a dozen additional children, they were taken aback.

On May 7, Arcadia Police Department officers were called to a nearby hospital after a 2-month-old baby was admitted with intracranial haemorrhage and a traumatic brain injury.

Police visited the residence of the parents, Guojun Xuan, 65, and Silvia Zhang, 38, on the 600 block of West Camino Real Avenue. Arcadia is located next to the Angeles National Forest in northeast Los Angeles County.

Police discovered a number of nannies and fifteen children in the house. The children were placed in foster care after the Department of Children and Family Services also responded to the home. According to police, six additional children who were related to the couple but lived elsewhere were also placed in foster care.

Two days prior to the parents’ hospitalisation, detectives retrieved surveillance tape showing 56-year-old Chunmei Li, the nanny, reportedly “violently” shaking and hitting the baby. According to police, the infant had started having seizures by that point.

The parents were arrested for felony child endangerment and neglect after they allegedly “failed to seek timely medical attention” for the infant.

Xuan and Zhang are the owners of Mark Surrogacy, a company that matches surrogate mothers with prospective parents. The surrogates were informed that the child would be given to a couple who were having difficulty conceiving a second child, however it seems that several of the ladies served as surrogates for the same pair.

Police are still looking into it. According to Arcadia Police Lt. Kollin Cieadlo, their current area of investigation is the May child abuse case.

He stated that police will collaborate with the FBI and child services to ascertain whether any additional charges are warranted and that the child is still in stable condition at the hospital.

Although some of the children placed in foster care were as old as 13, the majority were infants and young children.

“Any accusations of wrongdoing are misguided and wrong. We look forward to vindicating any such claims at the appropriate time when and if any actions are brought,” she stated.

One of the surrogate moms is being assisted by Kallie Fell, executive director of the nonprofit Centre for Bioethics & Culture Network.

“It was her first time being a surrogate mother,” Fell said. “The baby that she birthed, she is trying to get custody now. She was told by the intended parents that she was their only surrogate mother, that they had one child.”

However, Fell said the inquiry into whether Xuan and Zhang committed any crimes by using several surrogate mothers is probably going to be confused.

“There are no laws against hiring multiple surrogate mothers at a time … but as we can see, this case highlights inherent dangers of commercial surrogacy,” Fell stated in an interview.

In an attempt to obtain custody of the kid she gave birth to in March, Kayla Pena, the woman Fell talked with, created a GoFundMe page.

“This little one deserves stability, love, and a safe home. I am prepared and deeply committed to providing that for her, but the legal process to secure placement is complex and costly,” she added.