CALIFORNIA COUPLE CHARGED OVER SURROGACY SCHEME INVOLVING 21 CHILDREN

A California couple has been arrested on child abuse charges following an investigation into a surrogacy scheme involving at least 21 children, authorities said on Tuesday. Guojun Xuan and his wife, Silvia Zhang, face several counts of child abuse, along with conspiracy to commit child abuse, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman described the case as "unprecedented" and said the physical abuse the children suffered was "despicable". Fifteen children, aged between two months and 13 years, with most between one and three, were removed last year from the couple's home in Arcadia after an allegation of abuse, and a further six children living elsewhere were also located. Prosecutors are seeking $100 million bail, citing the seriousness of the charges and the risk that the couple could flee.

Police believe Zhang gave birth to one or two of the children herself, while the rest were delivered by surrogates hired through a surrogacy agency the couple ran from their home. Zhang and Xuan were first arrested in May 2025 after a hospital reported that their two-month-old infant had suffered a traumatic head injury, which Arcadia police said was caused by a nanny violently shaking the baby. Arcadia police said they did not file charges at that time because they needed to complete their investigation. According to the Guardian, the couple told police they "wanted a large family" and produced what appeared to be legitimate birth certificates, some from outside California, listing Zhang as the mother and Xuan as the father of at least some of the children. Hochman said the couple had set up rooms they called "learning centres", where children sat at desks under supervision from nannies for several hours a day.

Hochman said the couple used an extensive surveillance system, including motion-activated cameras, to watch as nannies subjected the children to daily beatings. California is regarded as a "surrogacy-friendly state" because it has defined legal procedures for the practice, requiring both parties to have lawyers and a notarised written contract before an embryo transfer. Surrogacy itself is not regulated at federal level in the United States, leaving individual states to set their own rules. Zhang and Xuan were scheduled to be arraigned at the Pasadena courthouse on Tuesday.