In a troubling case unfolding in California, police have removed 21 children from a couple with connections to China. This complicated situation highlights profound ethical, moral, and legal dilemmas that demand our attention.
The couple at the center of this case is Silvia Zhang, 38, and Guojun Xuan, 65. Originally from China, they became naturalized U.S. citizens and now reside in a sprawling multimillion-dollar mansion in a suburb of Los Angeles. Zhang has a daughter from a previous marriage. She and Xuan have been having children through surrogacy since 2021.
Zhang operated a surrogacy agency called Mark Surrogacy from their mansion. The agency purportedly marketed itself as an institution assisting American and international couples struggling to conceive through surrogacy. However, investigations revealed a startling truth: The only couple the agency served was Zhang and Xuan themselves. They are the biological parents of 21 children born through surrogacy. Of these children, fifteen lived with them in the mansion under the care of a few nannies, while friends and family supposedly looked after the other six in different locations.
Mark Surrogacy’s sham operation would have continued if not for one of the children, a two-month-old infant, who had to be rushed to the hospital in May. After hospital staff determined the infant exhibited signs of child abuse, they contacted social services and the police. Police searched Zhang and Xuan’s mansion and found 15 children, none of whom is more than three years old. The police also uncovered home surveillance videos showing that some children were “subjected to physical and emotional abuse” by their nannies. Therefore, the police removed all children and put them under foster care.
The revelations surrounding Mark Surrogacy have left many of the surrogate mothers in a state of disbelief and anger. “It was kind of like they preyed on my vulnerability, being a first-time surrogate,” Kayla Elliott told CBS News. “We were lied to about so much, that I mean it’s disgusting.”
Compounding this injustice is the fact that two surrogate mothers are currently pregnant with the couple’s children, unsure if their babies will be placed into the foster care system. Some of these mothers are contemplating legal action against Zhang and Xuan. Additionally, the couple is entangled in two lawsuits from former employees of their real estate business, raising further questions about their integrity.
Hellbound and Down 