Name: 21 Children Taken From California Couple in Surrogacy Abuse Probe
Uploaded: 2025-07-17T02:05:57.000Z
Description: There is no federal tracking system, and surrogacy agencies face little oversight.

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Federal and local investigations are underway after authorities uncovered a surrogacy scheme involving a Southern California couple and more than 20 babies born to American women. The couple, identified as 38-year-old Silvia Zhang and 65-year-old Guojun Xuan, are suspected of enlisting multiple women across the United States to carry children for them through an agency called Mark Surrogacy, which has since renamed itself as Future Spring Surrogacy.

Authorities say the pair arranged for women in Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and California to undergo embryo transfers. The couple facilitated births through contracts that raise serious ethical and legal questions. At least 21 children have been removed from the couple’s custody, following reports of abuse, neglect, and deception.

The investigation began after a baby born to one surrogate mother was hospitalized with head trauma in Arcadia, California. A nanny allegedly caught on camera violently shaking the infant has since disappeared. The baby’s injuries triggered a broader probe into the household. Law enforcement later discovered multiple children living in the Arcadia home. The children were allegedly being cared for by various nannies or receiving care outside the home.

Zhang and Xuan were arrested in May on charges of felony child endangerment but have since been released. The Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) intervened to remove all children under their care. Most were babies and toddlers, and some children were as old as 13.

According to DCFS, when abuse or neglect is confirmed and a child cannot remain safely at home, the child "may be required to move in with family members, close family friends or a foster family until their parents may regain custody."

Several surrogates have come forward to describe troubling patterns: contracts arranged with minimal transparency, payments made in <a href="https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Gr8rQAzs5/">cash-filled red envelopes</a>, and intended parents who disappeared after the babies were born.

One of the first surrogates to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUAou2sIyzM">speak publicly</a> was Kayla Elliot, who shared her story on social media and launched a <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-kayla-secure-custody-for-surrogate-baby">GoFundMe</a> to raise legal funds. She is now trying to gain custody of the baby girl she delivered, who was placed in foster care along with others. "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," Kayla wrote. "This is something NO ONE would have ever imagined. Ever. Worst possible case scenario ever," she wrote on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/SurrogacyAgencyReviews/permalink/1379439403277618/?rdid=QZ991Sdy8Ud5LpIR#">Facebook</a>.

Zhang, who appeared as the intended mother on many of the children’s birth certificates, also operated the surrogacy agency. The agency, based in Arcadia, emphasized that babies born in the United States would receive U.S. citizenship.

According to Future Spring Surrogacy’s <a href="https://www.futurespringsurrogacy.com/faq-1">website</a>, children born in the U.S. are “automatically entitled to U.S. citizenship and U.S. passports, regardless of the citizenship of their intended parents.” The site assures clients that many return home without obtaining passports from their native countries.

NTD reached out to Future Spring Surrogacy for comment.

Guojun Xuan, Zhang’s partner, has served as president of the Xinjiang Chamber of Commerce in the United States and as a standing director of the Chinese American Federation in Southern California. The Xinjiang Chamber of Commerce is part of a network tied to the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front Work Department, which seeks to build influence abroad. These ties raise <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-feds-investigating-alleged-china-linked-rent-a-womb-surrogacy-scandal-in-california">concerns</a> about potential foreign influence and exploitation of U.S. fertility and citizenship laws.

In the United States, surrogacy laws vary by state, with California among the most permissive. In contrast, surrogacy is illegal in China.

From 2014 to 2020, nearly one in three of U.S. surrogacy embryo transfers—about 32 percent—were for international intended parents. Of those, 41.7 percent were from China, according to Kallie Fell, executive director of the Center for Bioethics and Culture Network.

“No system that allows children to be created and moved around like products—especially across borders—can ever be truly safe or just,” she told NTD in an email. “People aren’t allowed to buy a kidney or sell other organs—why do we allow women to rent their wombs?”

Once a child leaves the United States, “there’s virtually no way to ensure their safety, well-being, or even legal status,” she said. There is no federal tracking system, and surrogacy agencies face little oversight. “In some cases, there’s no follow-up on where the child ends up, who’s raising them, or whether they’re being trafficked, abused, or neglected,” Fells stated.

“The protection of children and the dignity of the women who carry them must come before profits and contracts,” she said. At a minimum, she calls for banning international surrogacy arrangements and requiring accurate birth certificates and extensive background checks for intended parents. “If you have enough money, you can buy a child, no questions asked. That must change. The protection of children and the dignity of the women who carry them must come before profits and contracts."

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