Babies Abandoned In Another Chinese Surrogacy Scandal

A St. Augustine surrogate mother is fighting for custody of two surviving triplet boys after the intended father, a single man from China, failed to claim them for nearly 20 months.

One of the triplets died from complications related to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) while in her care, and the remaining two are now in foster care as a legal battle over their future unfolds.

Kyla Simpson gave birth to the boys at UF Health Jacksonville on November 4, 2024. The intended father never appeared for the birth. She and her husband, Lincoln, brought the babies home from the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in January 2025, breastfed them, and raised them as their own until a court order placed the children in foster care.

The case first gained national attention after children’s rights activist Katy Faust summarized it in a post on X. Faust wrote that a single Chinese man commissioned triplets, failed to show up at birth, later sent “two sketchy guys in a black SUV” to collect them, and then disappeared for a year and a half. One child died of RSV. The surrogate and her husband are now fighting for custody while the babies sit in foster care. “Welcome to the global baby trade,” Faust wrote.

According to First Coast News, Simpson signed a gestational surrogacy contract and a hospital birth plan dated October 31, 2024, that gave her physical custody and decision-making authority in the intended father’s absence. The boys remained in the NICU for roughly two months.

The case comes as Florida implements a new law, effective July 1, that bans gestational surrogacy contracts involving citizens or residents of “foreign countries of concern,” including China. Assisted reproductive technology attorney Karen Persis, who is not involved in the case, noted that intended parents from abroad usually handle all paperwork and are present for the birth. Situations in which an intended parent simply never appears are extremely rare, she said.

Simpson said the intended father repeatedly claimed he was working on a U.S. visa and at one point asked her to help obtain the children’s travel documents. They even discussed her flying the babies to China.

In a March 21, 2025, email, the intended father said he would send a friend and an agent to pick up the children. Two men later arrived at Simpson’s home. She refused to hand the babies over to strangers, telling him she would only release them to him, the people listed in case of his death, or a representative from the agency.

Communication then broke down. In August 2025, one of the triplets died from RSV complications. “I broke down crying over him,” Simpson told First Coast News. “That was like my most bubbly baby.”

She did not hear from the intended father again until February 2026. In May, she began legal proceedings to terminate his parental rights and adopt the boys. His attorney successfully sought an emergency order requiring the children to be turned over. 

Simpson’s attorney, Ellen Kaplan, filed an emergency motion and an appeal with Florida’s Fifth District Court of Appeal on July 14 seeking to keep the children in the United States, noting that China is not a party to the Hague Abduction Convention. The court denied the emergency motion; Kaplan has requested a rehearing. A ten-minute hearing is scheduled for late July in St. Johns County.

An investigator working for Simpson said she spoke with the FBI. First Coast News could not confirm an active investigation.

The St. Augustine case also comes amid broader scrutiny of surrogacy arrangements involving Chinese clients. Separately, federal authorities are investigating alleged China-linked “rent-a-womb” operations in California, first reported by The Daily Wire.

Center for Bioethics and Culture executive director Kallie Fell called the pattern “a form of organized reproductive trafficking.”

Simpson and her husband are raising money for legal fees as they continue fighting to bring the boys home. “You had a year and a half to do all that you needed to do,” she said, “but to now rip them from everything they’ve known.”