Questions about surrogacy are raised in case of California couple with house brimming with kids

By ED WHITE The removal of children from the custody of a Los Angeles-area couple has put a spotlight on the practice of using surrogates to build a family Surrogacy has no federal regulation leaving it up to states to set the rules if they choose to allow it Related Articles Beef prices have soared in the US and not just during grilling season In American life a growing and forbidding visual rises the law-enforcement officer in a mask US Justice Department wants no prison time for ex-officer convicted in Breonna Taylor raid Settlement reached in investors lawsuit against Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other company leaders Fear is the tool of a tyrant fired federal prosecutor Maurene Comey tells colleagues The kids at the couple s mansion and six more living elsewhere were taken by an LA County child welfare agency in May after the parents were accused of failing to intervene in the abuse of a baby by a nanny police in Arcadia disclosed The children range in age from months to years with majority of between and police commented The FBI won t comment but agents are inspecting Silvia Zhang and Guojun Xuan have not responded to emails seeking comment Police believe Zhang gave birth to one or two of the children while the rest were born by surrogate A few women who were paid surrogates for the couple now say they were unaware that the couple was accumulating a supersize family raising questions about their intentions What were they going to do with these children revealed Deborah Wald a lawyer in San Francisco whose expertise includes surrogacy law What is surrogacy Surrogacy is an agreement between parties to have a woman become pregnant typically through an embryo transfer and deliver a baby The intended parent or parents might struggle with infertility They also could be same-sex couples There s no limit on how a large number of children someone can have through surrogates or any other method reported Wald who is not involved in the Arcadia matter The home of Silvia Zhang and Guojun Xuan is seen on Wednesday July in Arcadia Calif where a number of children were removed from the couple s home after a child abuse allegation in May according to Arcadia police AP Photo Jae C Hong She acknowledged that California is considered a surrogacy-friendly state because it has clear laws around the process Both sides are required to have lawyers and there must be a written notarized contract before an embryo transfer Wald stated The legitimate surrogacy area in California is very distressed when things like this happen Wald mentioned of surrogates feeling deceived We ve worked very hard on legal and ethical standards It hurts everyone when something like this happens Matchmaker role There are businesses that act as matchmakers connecting surrogates to people who want to have children State business records show a company called Mark Surrogacy Capital LLC had been registered at the Arcadia address of Zhang and Xuan It s not clear if Zhang and Xuan set up the business solely to find surrogates for themselves State records show the company terminated its business license in June An aerial view shows the home of Silvia Zhang and Guojun Xuan on Wednesday July in Arcadia Calif where a number of children were removed from the couple s home after a child abuse allegation in May according to Arcadia police AP Photo Jae C Hong Wald reported there are no special licensing requirements in California for businesses that match surrogates with intended parents A multitude of questions remain Wald stated there should have been plenty of checks and balances in the process noting the role of fertility clinics in handling embryos The first place typically is the matching campaign that matches the surrogate with an intended parent But in this situation the intended parents were the matching activity Wald noted I am not familiar with any other prior event where that was true Arcadia police explained the six children who were not at the couple s home were revealed with family friends The couple s house was set up for a school ecosystem Lt Kollin Cieadlo commented Zhang and Xuan were accused of neglect and arrested in May Charges were not formally pursued at that time in order for an abuse study to continue and detectives now believe there were other instances of abuse Cieadlo declared A -month-old infant with a traumatic head injury allegedly at the hands of a nanny remains in a hospital in stable condition he mentioned