International Surrogacy during Covid and history of sex offences

[OhHolyJesus]

In summary, a man who was both a victim and perpetrator of child sex abuse travelled from Thailand to Columbia to fetch their baby girl, 5 weeks after she was born, along with her twin who very sadly died.

The biological father (his sperm and an egg provided by another woman was implanted as an embryo into the 'gestational surrogate' mother) returned home and his partner remained and cared for the baby with the surrogate mother who gave her permission for him to have custody and travel with her when she was well enough (as she was born prematurely).

For various reasons around the Covid travel restrictions, the fact he wasn't the genetic father and the issue around a birth certificate he ended up in the UK and subsequently she was put into foster care.

As a complex case I don't want to summarise and take too much out of context. I will say though that the surrogacy contract and payment wasn't mentioned but since Thailand have banned commercial surrogacy and due to the circumstances, I think it is obviously a commercial surrogacy arrangement.

I will not post the content as that could be in breach of the copyright laws but it is publicly available and can be downloaded from here.

I recommend reading it in full.

www.familylaw.co.uk/news_and_comment/re-z-(care-proceedings-surrogacy)-2021-ewhc-589-(fam)

So a man with a history of sexually abusing children bought a baby in Columbia and has taken her back to Thailand. The UK authorities have decided that's all hunkydory, despite the fact that the man lied to police about his address while in the UK. Well. I mean. Errrrr

Thank you for posting this.
A same sex couple, long term partners (but not married, perhaps because they live in Thailand, a country that doesn’t have same sex marriage.)
The genetic father is the younger man, the older one had convictions, The younger man meets the baby but has a job to get back to so the older man stays to help care for the premature baby in Columbia.

Then the legal systems of three countries...COVID pandemic... UK social services...

That's a brilliant summary Rabbit, the fact he was a victim of csa as a child seems to have swayed the decision. Perhaps also that the baby was a girl and his 8 offences were committed against a 14 year old boy?

I can't really fathom the reasoning here.

It reminds me of another set of twins connected to surrogacy and Thailand - Gammy and Pipah, but that had the biological father as the paedophile.

I wonder what protections are in place for this baby girl and how the judge can expect the biological father to 'look for signs'. That would suggest the abuse would be allowed to happen and the partner should keep an eye on him?

The fact this has all gone through the U.K. courts and foster system and it still came out the other end with a man who has convictions (but not on the child sex offender register) for CSA leave the country with the little girl he bought makes me very very concerned.

Thailand banned commercial surrogacy because of some notorious cases which demonstrate how unethical it can be:

"The case of the Australian boy - named "baby Gammy" - made headlines around the world after his Australian parents took his healthy twin sister home and left him in Thailand.

He remained with surrogate mother Pattaramon Chanbua, 21, and was later granted Australian citizenship so he can have access to medical care.

Concern about the industry worsened when a Japanese man was found to have fathered more than a dozen babies by different Thai surrogates, a case later dubbed "the baby factory"."

Thailand bans commercial surrogacy for foreigners www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-31546717

X-post Jesus

The fact this has all gone through the U.K. courts and foster system and it still came out the other end with a man who has convictions (but not on the child sex offender register) for CSA leave the country with the little girl he bought makes me very very concerned.

With no suggestion that there will be follow up checks as far as I can tell...

Yes no checks. Now they have legal rights as parents and have passed through the systems in U.K I think that's it. No follow up.

Her birth certificate may possibly be changed too so to give her a Thai BC? I don't know what happens there.

The surrogate mother would be listed on the original and she will probably not be able to trace her genetic mother, the woman who provided the egg.

She may also never know about her twin or be able to find her birth mother.

Wasn't the hiding her under his coat upon arrival into London weird? The judge said this wasn't true as he had a baby seat etc but why would that have been mentioned? Also the welfare check and him not being where he said he was going to be? That was a COVID concern for track and trace let alone quarantining due to travel and why lie about where you are going to be staying?

Slight derail - I've been looking to see if Gammy inherits anything from his biological father since his death last year.

Seeing as no financial support was offered for his upbringing and originally Pattaramon relied on public donations, I was wondering if the could be a legal claim made to his estate?

Wasn't the hiding her under his coat upon arrival into London weird? The judge said this wasn't true as he had a baby seat etc but why would that have been mentioned? Also the welfare check and him not being where he said he was going to be? That was a COVID concern for track and trace let alone quarantining due to travel and why lie about where you are going to be staying?

Yes, if that was reportedly what triggered the interest of the authorities at the airport how is it that it never happened? They were mistaken? But then he goes on to lie about his whereabouts when, as you say, there were other issues around Covid which would also be problematic and pose a different risk. I found the justification for lying in the judgement intriguing.

She may also never know about her twin or be able to find her birth mother.

Which would be deeply unfair and possibly dangerous for her health wise in future.

I found the justification for lying in the judgement intriguing.

Me too.

The bit about her having her needs met and being in a loving environment.

Well let's bloody well hope so given the fact she was bought and paid for, they better had take good care of her.

Hard to say if that was a show for the Dr to do the assessment and for the court.

Should it matter when how long ago the convictions for CSA were? 8 counts!

So many concerns about this!

I read elsewhere that Colombia has a newly emerging surrogacy industry.
Another country with plenty of impoverished women for those who can afford it to exploit.

Surely international surrogacy is people trafficking and should be recognised as such?

@IamSparcatus

Surely international surrogacy is people trafficking and should be recognised as such?

That’s all I could think of reading through this case. It’s fine to traffick people if you make sure you’ve bought them at birth

Transnational gestational surrogacy is people trafficking rooted in the exploitation of poor women.

@OhHolyJesus

I found the justification for lying in the judgement intriguing.

Me too.

The bit about her having her needs met and being in a loving environment.

Well let's bloody well hope so given the fact she was bought and paid for, they better had take good care of her.

Hard to say if that was a show for the Dr to do the assessment and for the court.

Should it matter when how long ago the convictions for CSA were? 8 counts!

It could make a difference how long ago the offences were- he may have been quite young, and he may since have changed his life and stopped the offending behaviour. A young adult with poor boundaries as a result of abuse could consider them self in a relationship with a teenage boy. Not justifying it, just considering that how long ago it was could make a difference.