California couple used own surrogacy agency to have children

A couple who ran a surrogacy agency in California had 21 children, many carried by surrogates who had no idea the people running the agency were also the intended parents.

California authorities discovered 15 children in the couple's home, aged between two months and 13 years old, and traced a further six living elsewhere. The police investigation revealed that most of the children were born via surrogacy, arranged through a surrogacy agency run by the couple. Surrogates from across the USA who worked with the agency said they believed they were carrying a second child for a couple experiencing infertility. They later discovered that the intended parents had multiple children and ran the agency.

'It's horrific, it's disturbing, it's damaging emotionally,' said Kayla Elliot, a surrogate who signed up with the agency and gave birth in March 2025. 'These agencies, we're supposed to trust them and follow their guidance and come to find out this whole thing was a scam, and the parents own the agency – that was not disclosed at all beforehand.'

Elliot believed she was a surrogate for a couple who already had one child. However, months after giving birth, a stranger on social media invited her to join a group for surrogates who carried for the same couple. Elliot also learnt that the child she gave birth to was no longer living with the intended parents and is now seeking custody.

Public records show that the business licence for the couple's agency was terminated in June. However, a surrogate in Pennsylvania claims she is currently 26 weeks pregnant with a child for the couple. The couple's 21 children are currently in local authority care while investigations into the surrogacy arrangements, and additional allegations of child abuse, are ongoing.

'There are no laws against hiring multiple surrogate mothers at a time,' Kallie Fell, executive director of the Centre for Bioethics & Culture Network, which was involved in tracing surrogates including Elliot, told NBC Los Angeles. '...but as we can see, this case highlights inherent dangers of commercial surrogacy.'

Commercial surrogacy is legal in California. However, experts have warned that the case highlights the need for regulation and the potential risks of surrogacy arrangements.

'This situation really shows the importance of good regulation. Agencies in California are unregulated and essentially operate as businesses,' Kirsty Horsey, professor of law at Loughborough University told BioNews.

She added: 'In the UK, proposed reforms to surrogacy law, currently sitting with the Department of Health and Social Care, would see surrogacy take place within the context of a regulated system, overseen by regulated non-profit surrogacy organisations whose obligations would include ensuring that all screening and other safeguards have taken place before any surrogacy arrangement is entered into, meaning that the best interests of all parties, not least children born from such arrangements, would be prioritised.'

The government recently announced that Law Commissions' 2023 proposed surrogacy reforms would not be taken forward at this time (see BioNews 1289).