Surrogate fights for custody after intended parent from China abandoned babies

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier is getting involved after a St. Augustine surrogate gave birth to triplets, and the intended parent never claimed them. The surrogate is now seeking custody of the children she birthed.

Key Takeaways:

• Almost two years ago, surrogate Kyla Simpson gave birth to triplets.

• A California agency had previously matched her with a single man in China, with whom she signed a surrogacy contract before undergoing IVF.

• After giving birth prematurely, the triplets were in the NICU for two months. Eventually, Simpson eventually took the triplets home with her and the intended parent never came.

• The man claimed he was having trouble obtaining a visa, and Simpson offered to fly the babies to China. Eventually, the man stopped communicating with her, and one of the triplets passed away.

• Simpson filed an emergency order to terminate the man's parental rights, and he has since begun to fight back, forcing the Florida attorney general to get involved.

• The intended father filed an emergency child pick-up order, resulting in the boys being placed in foster care.

• Simpson filed an emergency motion to keep the boys in the U.S. as she seeks custody, but that motion was denied.

The Details:

Simpson shared her harrowing story with First Coast News, explaining that she chose to be a surrogate as an act of kindness, to bless someone who wanted children and couldn't have them.

She told the Daily Caller, "My whole point of going into surrogacy was to be able to buy a home, you know? And bless someone with a child."

Working with a surrogacy agency in California, she was matched with a single man in China, and both signed contracts through their separate legal representatives. She explained that after undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF), the two agreed on a birth plan.

"That was dated October 31st, 2024, and it basically stated that I have physical custody of them and that I'm able to make decisions on behalf of them in lieu of his absence," she said.

But after Simpson gave birth one month prematurely to triplets on November 4, 2024, the intended father did not come to claim the children. The babies were put in the neonatal intensive care unit for about two months, and the intended father claimed he was arranging travel documents to come to the United States and pick up the children. During that time, Simpson was given physical custody of the triplets under the Gestational Surrogacy Hospital Plan until the man could arrive... but he never did.

The triplets' discharge date came and went, and the babies went home with Simpson and her husband, Lincoln. All three boys were home with the couple by January 2025.

"Every day I came to that hospital, and if it was a day where I'm just super exhausted and I couldn't make it, I'm up there I'm calling all throughout the day," Simpson said of the babies in the NICU.

St. Augustine surrogate fights for rights as intended parent leaves children unclaimed for 20 months

Initially, the man in China continued communication with her, and Simpson even offered to fly the babies to China for him.

"My mom was like, I'll fly with you, and she was like, 'don't go by yourself,' and I was willing to, so it shows that I never was trying to actually keep them," she said.

Then, on March 21, 2025, he told Simpson that a friend and an agent would be coming to collect the boys, which she was not comfortable with. She told First Coast News that it was around that time that two male strangers came to her home in a black SUV to try to take the babies.

“I don’t feel comfortable doing all of these things and you’re not coming to get them. I said either you, the people you had listed that could, if in case you passed away or something, they would have custody of these kids, them, or a representative from the agency to come and get these kids. I’m not handing them over to [any] strangers,” Simpson told First Coast News.

She told the Daily Caller, "The thing about it is, this Asian man, this Chinese man, is still in China. His attorney is the one who is considered a custodian or something like that.”

Soon afterwards, the man stopped communication with Simpson, and in August of 2025, one of the babies died from RSV complications.

"I broke down crying over him. They had to pull me out of the room because I was crying," she said. "I'm like... say something. That was like my most bubbly baby... I say 'our kids' because blood doesn't matter to me how they look doesn't matter to me, color doesn't matter. I birthed them."

She explained that she didn't hear from the intended father again until 2026. "... I reached out to him in February 2026," she told the Daily Caller. "He didn't respond to me until May 20th of 2026 ... Christopher died last year [in] August 2025. He [the father] would like Facebook posts, like, let me know he's watching me, but never once did he reach out about Christopher."

In May, Simpson filed documents to terminate the intended parent's parental rights and adopt the babies. The intended father then filed an emergency child pick-up order, which a St. Johns County judge approved, sending the boys to foster care, where they have remained since June 17.

Simpson filed an emergency motion with the Fifth District Court of Appeal to prevent the boys from being removed from the U.S., but that motion was denied. Simpson's attorney is seeking a rehearing and there is a 10-minute hearing scheduled at the end of July.

"I feel like my back is against the wall," said Simpson.

In a statement, Simpson's attorney, Ellen Kaplan, explained that the motion is "asking for one thing: that two twenty-month-old American citizens, born in Jacksonville and raised every day of their lives by the Simpsons, remain in the United States while the courts review the orders that removed them from the only home they have ever known."

Kaplan added:

"The certified court record shows that counsel stated in open court on June 25 that travel documents for the children are being obtained. The People's Republic of China is not a party to the Hague Abduction Convention: if these children leave the United States, no American court can bring them home....

The Simpsons will accept whatever a court decides after a full and fair hearing on a complete record. They ask only that their sons still be in this country when that decision is made."

Zoom In:

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has now intervened, filing an emergency order to block the children's removal from the United States. He also revealed that an application to issue passports for the boys has been filed, making the matter even more urgent.

Uthmeier argued that paternity was not established under Florida law, as the initial Uniform Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA) was signed in California. For now, a judge has agreed, granting a temporary injunction to prevent the boys from leaving the country.

"We're just very happy that we had some relief here with regard to the passports and we look forward to having the opportunity to present everything," Kaplan said.

Simpson has established a GiveSendGo account to help raise money for her legal expenses.

Commentary

“Kyla’s story should prompt [everyone], including policymakers to ask whether our laws are truly protecting the most vulnerable people involved in these arrangements — the children,” The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network (CBC) Executive Director Kallie Fell told the Daily Caller in a statement. “Surrogacy contracts are negotiated by adults, but it is children who ultimately live with the consequences of those agreements.”

She added, “At the Center for Bioethics and Culture, we’ve been warning for years that international commercial surrogacy creates predictable ethical and legal risks. Kyla’s case is another reminder that our laws should prioritize the rights and well-being of children over the desires of adults.”

The Big Picture:

On July 1, Florida outlawed gestational surrogacy contracts if any of the involved persons is a citizen or resident of a ‘foreign country of concern,' which includes China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Syria, and Venezuela. The law does not affect surrogacy contracts women in Florida make with surrogacy companies in other states.

In January, federal legislators introduced the Stopping Adversarial Foreign Exploitation of Kids in Domestic Surrogacy (SAFE KIDS) Act which would invalidate commercial surrogacy agreements with citizens of foreign adversary countries, including China.

Rep. Chuck Edward explained on Instagram:

China and other foreign adversaries exploit American surrogacy laws for human trafficking. I’m cosponsoring the SAFE KIDS Act to end this horrific practice. The legislation:
✔️Invalidates any commercial surrogacy contract with citizens of foreign adversarial nations
✔️Holds nefarious brokers accountable
✔️Ensures children involved are protected under state law

There has been no action on the bill since its introduction. However, in February, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) called for an investigation to be opened into surrogacy centers operated by foreign nationals. In a letter, they wrote in part:

Recent reports have uncovered more than 107 Chinese-owned surrogacy agencies operating in Southern California alone. These agencies cater almost exclusively to wealthy Chinese clients, and some are affiliated with Chinese state-owned entities. Chinese nationals pay women living in the United States more than $50,000 to serve as surrogates. The children are born on United States soil and granted automatic citizenship. And in most cases, the infants are promptly flown to China and raised there under the direct influence of the Chinese Communist Party.

A major scandal erupted last year when 21 babies were found in the home of "intended parents" who were running Future Spring Surrogacy (formerly Marks Surrogacy). In an article for The Daily Wire, reporter Mary Margaret Olohan explained that federal authorities are investigating the business following allegations of a for-profit baby selling surrogacy scheme involving a Chinese couple.

In June, legislators in the House introduced the Protecting Kids from Creeps Act to "prohibit surrogacy agencies from facilitating surrogacy contracts with sex offenders, and for other purposes." Also introduced in June was the Preventing International Surrogacy Exploitation Act, which seeks to "prohibit foreign nationals from entering into or enforcing surrogacy contracts in the United States, and for other purposes."