People with Down ‘never stop learning’, US-Dutch research shows

DutchNews, January 4, 2019

Photo: Depositphotos.com

People with Down syndrome never stop learning and continue to acquire functional skills well into adulthood, according to a new mass study by US and Dutch researchers. 

The research is based on the experiences of more than 2,600 families in the US and the Netherlands and coordinated by researchers from the Dutch Down Syndrome Foundation and the Massachussetts General Hospital. 

‘Contrary to some public beliefs, people with Down syndrome never stop learning, and functional skills can still be attained and improved well into adulthood,’ director of the programme Brian Skotko told the Harvard Gazette. 

The results in both the US – based on questionnaires in 2008 and 2009 – and the Netherlands (questionnaire in 2016) were broadly similar. They indicated that most people with Down syndrome could walk by 25 months of age, speak reasonably well by age 12, maintain personal hygiene by 13, and work independently by 20. 

By the age of 31, 49% were reading reasonably well, 46%  could write reasonably well, 34% were living independently, and around 30% could travel independently. 

‘Now we have guideposts — based on the responses of thousands of parents — that can help clinicians know when children may be falling behind their peers with Down syndrome and, when necessary, refer parents to additional supports, resources, and therapies,’ Skotko said.

Dutch hospital sets up fetal tissue bank for birth defect research

DutchNews, January 26, 2018

Photo: Depositphotos.com

Amsterdam University’s AMC teaching hospital is to actively approach women who have undergone an abortion or parents who have suffered a still birth to ask if they will donate the foetus to a special tissue bank. 

Researchers will then use the tissue from the foetus to find out more about birth defects and normal fetal growth. 

‘Very occasionally people whose child was born dead or had an abortion have asked us if they could help medical science,’ coordinator Bernadette de Bakker said in a press release. ‘But that generated too little tissue for real research.’ 

Parents will be asked as soon as possible if they are willing to donate the foetus because speed is of the essence to ensure the results of the research are trustworthy, De Bakker said. Donations will be stored anonymously. 

Some of the foetuses will have genetic defects – the reason for most later stage abortions – or will have been subject of a miscarriage. 

Downs

‘For example, we don’t know why one child with Downs has limited abilities but why others can go to a normal primary school,’ said the project’s initiator and genetics professor Raoul Hennekam. ‘Or why some develop heart defects and others don’t.’ 

The foetuses donated by parents who had an abortion for what the AMC terms ‘social’ reasons will be studied to learn more about normal development. 

Abortion is legal in the Netherlands up to 24 weeks but almost half of all abortions take place before seven weeks. 

Hospitals ditch NIPT pre-natal test after Belgian clinic breaks privacy rules

DutchNews, November 11, 2016

At least two Dutch hospitals have stopped using a pre-natal test for Down’s and other syndromes after it emerged the Belgian firm carrying out the testing is using the women’s private information for commercial purposes. 

Broadcaster BNR reported that the Gendia laboratory is approaching women who said on their health records there is cancer in their families about cancer screening. This, BNR says, is against both Dutch and EU privacy regulations. 

Amsterdam’s OLVG hospital group and the Westfries Gasthuis in Hoorn have both stopped working with the Belgian firm. ‘We do not want to be associated with this practice in any way whatsoever,’ the OLVG group said in a statement. 

The NIPT test is currently only available to women who have an increased risk of a child with Down’s, Edward’s and Patua’s syndrome. It will be available to all women next year, when other labs will be allowed to offer the test. 

Gendia, which said in September it had carried out 17,000 tests on behalf of Dutch women, told BNR the company had broken no rules. It is the company’s duty to point out the risks and the availability of screening to the women, director Patrick Willems is quoted as saying.

 Health minister Edith Schippers has asked her Belgian colleague for an explanation, news agency ANP said.

Gay couple wins custody of surrogate child Carmen in Thailand

A homosexual American-Spanish couple has won the right to keep their child, Carmen. Complications ensued after the girl's surrogate mother decided to keep the baby after realizing that the couple was gay.

Deutsche Welle, 26 April 2016

Bangkok's Juvenile and Family Court ruled on Tuesday that US citizen Gordon Lake (pictured above, left) was Carmen's legal guardian, his lawyer, Rachapol Sirikulchit, told reporters.

"The court has granted legal custody of Carmen Lake to Gordon Lake, my client, and my client is her only guardian," the attorney said.

Lake's partner, Spaniard Manuel Santos (pictured above, right), was elated at the verdict. "We won," he told journalists, adding, "We are really happy… This nightmare is going to end soon."

Santos and Lake had been stuck in Thailand since January 2015, when Carmen was born. The two have been living off of finances from a crowdfunding website where they had appealed for help.

Lake is Carmen's biological father, while the egg came from an anonymous donor. After Carmen's birth, her surrogate mother Patidta Kusolsang gave the baby to Lake and Santos.

Manuel Santos and his partner have been stuck in Thailand for nearly 15 months

Although Carmen had been living with the couple since her birth, her surrogate mother changed her mind and did not sign the documents to enable Carmen to obtain a passport. The two men were told that Patidta did not know they were gay before handing over the child.

Lake's same-sex marriage with Santos became a problem in Thailand, which does not recognize homosexual unions. However, the 41-year-old American insisted the matter had been clear ever since they tied up with surrogacy agency New Life, which has branches in several countries.

This was further complicated by a ban on surrogacy in 2015 following a series of scandals involving foreign adoptions. However, the ban took effect only after Carmen was born.

In one high-profile case, an Australian couple was accused of abandoning a baby with Down's Syndrome, while taking away her twin back home with them. In another scandal, a Japanese man had 15 babies with surrogate mothers.

mg/kms (AFP, AP)

Related Articles:

Australia simplifies overseas child adoption

Australia gives citizenship to Down Syndrome baby left in Thailand

Thai surrogate mother Pattaramon Chanbua (L) holds her baby Gammy, born

 with Down Syndrome, at the Samitivej hospital in Chonburi province on

August 4, 2014 (AFP Photo/Nicolas Asfouri)

All mothers-to-be should get easy Down’s test, say MPs

DutchNews, February 16, 2016

A simple test for Down’s syndrome should be freely available to all pregnant women, Labour and Socialist MPs said on Tuesday, ahead of a debate with health minister Edith Schippers.

The NIPT test is a DNA test on maternal blood to screen pregnancies for the most common fetal chromosome anomalies and is said to be 99% accurate for Down’s. 

However, opponents say giving the test free to all women will increase pressure on them to actually use it and to have abortions if the baby is found to have the syndrome. 

The test has been used in teaching hospitals for the past two years on women who have an increased risk of a Down’s child. 

The ruling VVD also supports the introduction of the test but has not yet decided whether or not it should be included in the basic healthcare policy.

Related Article:

NIPT prenatal Down’s test to be included in basic health package

Canadian model with vitiligo who inspires fashion world

Yahoo – AFP, February 13, 2015

Canadian model with vitiligo who inspires fashion world

New York (AFP) - Chantelle Winnie is taking the fashion world by storm.

The young Canadian model, who loves an English breakfast of sausage, bacon and egg, is the It girl of diversity in a world pilloried for brutal uniformity.

Diagnosed with vitiligo aged four, the same skin disorder Michael Jackson had, she overcame bullying and years of rejection to achieve her dream of becoming an international model.

Plucked from obscurity to appear on "America's Next Top Model" and chosen last year as the face of Barcelona label Desigual, she loves every second of her whirlwind, "amazing" life punctuated by lots of sleep and her mother's breakfasts in Toronto.

The 20-year-old has crossed dreams off to-do lists, but the biggie remains: gracing the cover of fashion bible American "Vogue," whose steely editor in chief Anna Wintour she has not met. Yet.

Bubbly and prone to loud guffaws of laughter, Winnie projects a girly exterior that belies a cast-iron determination.

She has become a spokeswoman for vitiligo, which causes white patches to appear across the body and affects up to two million Americans, and has learned to be proud of who she is.

"I could more label myself as even a spokeswoman for happiness!" she tells AFP in a New York hotel overlooking a gritty, wintry skyline of Manhattan.

But it has not been an easy journey to the catwalk for Desigual on Thursday, the first day of fall/autumn 2015 New York Fashion Week.

Brought up by single mom

Brought up by a single mother hairdresser, she flew regularly to see her father who comes from Jamaica and has a house in Atlanta.

"We lived on our own for a very long time and those are my happiest years, me and my mom," she said.

But she was badly bullied at school and as a teenager was rejected by every modelling agency in Toronto.

Like any self-respecting wannabe, she built a profile on social media where she was discovered by ex-model Tyra Banks, presenter of long-running TV reality show "America's Next Top Model."

Winnie was booted off the show in 2014 but Banks is clearly a huge inspiration and the two have remained close.

"You were already a star. I just gave you a platform to make sure people recognized that you were. Keep making me proud," she says, fishing out her cell phone to read a message from Banks.

"That really touched me," she adds.

The fashion world has long been blamed for a multitude of sins: eating disorders, the cult of thinness, an image of perfection that ordinary women can never obtain and of being too white.

Although Winnie's pigmented face is striking, she has the classic figure of a model -- five feet 10 inches (1.78 meters) with coltish limbs, chiselled cheekbones and a tiny waist.

A model with Downs Syndrome features in New York this week. Plus-size models are more common in magazines and New York Fashion Week has clamped down on harsh working conditions for child models.

Industry opening up

"Even the top models right now have a lot of personality and I feel like that's what people are looking for, you know, something they can relate to, a real person," says Winnie.

"So I feel like the industry is very much opening up, widening their eyes."

She describes Desigual as family.

"It was very organic, you know. They just met me, fell in love with me and they were like yep we're keeping you, you're ours now."

The label's signature bold patterns and bright colors suit her personality but at heart she is a sweatpants and sneakers kind of girl.

She doesn't dwell on bad things in the past and says her message to young girls is: "Focus on your opinion of yourself and not the opinion others have of you."

When she visited her old middle school she was mobbed. "A lot of the kids were like 'Oh my God, you're her, you're that girl!'"

She laughs again. She gives the impression of a homebody who loves to sleep and loves being coddled by her mom when she is home.

There she tucks into her mother's English breakfast of tea, beans, sausage or bacon, and runny eggs -- all protein -- and just the occasional piece of brown toast to dip into the eggs.

"The rest of the day I'll have like tonnes of spinach," she laughs. "But protein and vegetables, that's kind of my diet."

Australia gives citizenship to Down Syndrome baby left in Thailand

Yahoo – AFP, 20 Jan 2015

Thai surrogate mother Pattaramon Chanbua holds baby Gammy, born with Down

 Syndrome, at the Samitivej hospital in Chonburi province, on August 4, 2014

(AFP Photo/Nicolas Asfouri)

A baby at the centre of a Thai surrogacy scandal has been granted Australian citizenship, authorities said on Tuesday, after his birth mother said he was abandoned by a Perth couple who went home with his healthy twin sister.

Baby Gammy sparked a global debate about the legal and moral issues surrounding surrogacy when reports emerged in August that he was left behind by the pair, who returned to Australia with his sister Pipah.

The couple have denied abandoning the boy, who has Down's syndrome, saying they had wanted to bring him home and left Thailand fearing the surrogate mother would seize their daughter.

Thai surrogate mother Pattaramon Chanbua 

holds baby Gammy, born with Down Syndrome,

 at the Samitivej hospital in Chonburi province,

on August 4, 2014 (AFP Photo/Nicolas Asfouri)

"The department can confirm that an application for baby Gammy's Australian citizenship by descent has been assessed and found to have met all criteria for the grant," an immigration department spokeswoman said in a statement.

"It is not appropriate for the department to make any further comments on this case."

Surrogate mother Pattaramon Chanbua, who is in her early 20s, confirmed her son had been granted Australian citizenship.

"He got citizenship four days ago. The Australian embassy called me on Friday to ask me to come and collect the documents," she told AFP by telephone from her home in Chonburi province, 80 kilometres (50 miles) east of the capital Bangkok.

Pattaramon, also known as Goy, said she has no immediate plans to take her son to Australia but applied for citizenship with the help of the Australian charity Hands Across the Water as a safeguard for his future.

"I want him to be near me here (in Thailand) so that I don't have to miss him," the 21-year-old mother said.

"But if all of my family, including me die and if Gammy is left behind alone, at least the Australian government will help him."

She added that Gammy is in good health and turned one in December.

The baby has moved into a new home in Chonburi province about 90 kilometres south-east of Bangkok using money donated by well-wishers across the globe, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.

Gammy's biological father, David Farnell, a convicted sex offender, is under investigation by the authorities in Western Australia regarding the wellbeing and safety of Pipah.

Commercial surrogacy is illegal in Australia, prompting growing numbers of infertile couples to head overseas to countries such as India and Thailand to fulfil their dreams of having a family.

Thai parliament votes to ban commercial surrogacy

Yahoo – AFP, 28 Nov 2014

Thai surrogate mother Pattaramon Chanbua (L) was at the centre of a surrogacy
 scandal when Australian parents rejected the Downs Syndrom baby she was
carrying for them (AFP Photo/Nicolas Asfouri)

Thailand's parliament has voted to ban commercial surrogacy after outrage erupted over the largely unregulated industry following allegations an Australian couple abandoned a baby with Down's syndrome, a legislator said Friday.

A draft bill -- which would see anyone profiting off surrogacy given a maximum ten year prison sentence -- passed its first reading in the country's military-stacked parliament on Thursday, legislator Wallop Tungkananurak said.

"We want to put an end to this idea in foreigners' minds that Thailand is a baby factory," he told AFP.

"The bill was adopted with overwhelming support."

Commercial surrogacy was technically banned by Thailand's Medical Council, but until recently even top fertility clinics were believed to offer the service.

The murky industry came under intense scrutiny this summer after a series of surrogacy scandals broke involving foreigners.

In August, a Thai mother who carried twin babies for an Australian couple accused them of abandoning a baby boy with Down's syndrome while taking his healthy sister.

The couple have denied deliberately leaving the boy, called Gammy, with the surrogate mother -- who was paid around $15,000 to carry the twins.

In a separate case, police believe a Japanese man fathered at least 15 babies with surrogate mothers for unknown motives.

A gay Australian couple were also stopped from leaving Thailand with a baby because they had incomplete documents.

Thailand's military junta, which took over in a May coup, vowed to crack down on the industry.

Dozens, possibly hundreds, of foreign couples are thought to have been left in limbo after entering into surrogacy arrangements through clinics in the kingdom.

Thailand vows 'leniency' in surrogacy cases

Yahoo – AFP, 23 Aug 2014

Closed doors of the New Life IVF clinic in Bangkok, on August 15, 2014

(AFP Photo/Nicolas Asfouri)

Thailand's junta has pledged leniency in the cases of babies born to surrogate mothers, as it looks to toughen rules in the lucrative but largely unregulated industry following a series of scandals.

Dozens, possibly hundreds, of foreign couples are thought to have been left in limbo after entering into surrogacy arrangements through clinics in the kingdom.

Army chief General Prayut Chan-O-Cha, who seized power in a coup three months ago, said in his weekly televised address late Friday that the military rulers would move quickly to find "sustainable solutions".

Surrogate mother Pattaramon Chanbua (L) 

with her baby Gammy, born with Down

Syndrome, at the Samitivej hospital in

Sriracha district, Chonburi province on

August 4, 2014 (AFP Photo/Nicolas Asfouri)

"We are concerned that Thai women who are already surrogates will not dare to consult doctors at hospitals while they are pregnant because they are afraid that they would be prosecuted," he said.

"The clinics that hired them or asked them to do it have been closed, so it is dangerous for the babies," added Prayut, who was on Thursday picked as prime minister by the new junta-appointed legislature.

"I have already ordered leniency on a case-by-case basis."

Commercial surrogacy is officially banned by Thailand's Medical Council, but until recently even top fertility clinics were believed to offer the service.

The junta has vowed to introduce a new law that could result in 10 years' imprisonment for anyone found guilty of involvement in the trade.

In the past few weeks a number of fertility clinics have been raided and some have been closed down.

Thailand's murky surrogacy industry has come under intense scrutiny following recent accusations that an Australian couple abandoned a baby born with Down's syndrome, but took his healthy twin sister.

The couple have denied deliberately leaving the boy, called Gammy, with the surrogate mother, who was paid around $15,000 to carry the twins.

In a separate case, police believe a Japanese man fathered at least 15 babies with surrogate mothers for unknown motives.

Earlier this month, a gay Australian couple were stopped from leaving Thailand with a baby because they had incomplete documents.

Thai immigration officials say they cannot disclose how many couples have been prevented from leaving Thailand with babies born to surrogates because they do not keep records.

The support group Surrogacy Australia says it knows of 100 couples who are currently going through the process in the kingdom, which has long strived to be a hub of medical tourism.

Australia has asked Thailand to make "transitional arrangements" to help its citizens who have already entered into surrogacy arrangements.

Related Article:

Interpol investigates 'baby factory' as man fathers 16 surrogate children

Richard Dawkins apologises for causing storm with Down's syndrome tweet

Author told woman on Twitter it would be immoral not to abort pregnancy if she knew baby had Down's syndrome

The Guardian, Press Association, Thursday 21 August 2014

Richard Dawkins responded to a woman querying a possible Down's syndrome
 pregnancy: 'Abort it and try again. It would be immoral to bring it into the world
if you have the choice.' Photograph: Murdo Macleod

Richard Dawkins has apologised for the "feeding frenzy" triggered by his tweet claiming it would be immoral to carry on with a pregnancy if the mother knew the foetus had Down's syndrome.

The geneticist's latest Twitter row broke out after he responded to another user who said she would be faced with "a real ethical dilemma" if she became pregnant with a baby with Down's syndrome.

Dawkins tweeted: "Abort it and try again. It would be immoral to bring it into the world if you have the choice."

In a fuller explanation on his website – entitled Abortion & Down Syndrome: Apology for Letting Slip the Dogs of Twitterwar – the author tried to set the record straight.

He wrote: "To conclude, what I was saying simply follows logically from the ordinary pro-choice stance that most of us, I presume, espouse. My phraseology may have been tactlessly vulnerable to misunderstanding, but I can't help feeling that at least half the problem lies in a wanton eagerness to misunderstand."

The backlash for his comment had included one mother, who has a child with the genetic condition, saying: "I would fight until my last breath for the life of my son. No dilemma" while Dawkins said accusations of "Nazism, vile, monstrous fascistic callousness" and "fireballs of hatred" had been hurled his way.

He wrote: "If your morality is based, as mine is, on a desire to increase the sum of happiness and reduce suffering, the decision to deliberately give birth to a Down's baby, when you have the choice to abort it early in the pregnancy, might actually be immoral from the point of view of the child's own welfare."

Dawkins claimed he had hoped that his million-plus followers would not see his comments, which would instead only be sent out to the people who follow both himself and the woman who posed the question. He also claimed there was not enough space in his Twitter reply to get his fuller argument across.

He added: "Those who thought I was bossily telling a woman what to do rather than let her choose, of course this was absolutely not my intention and I apologise if brevity made it look that way. My true intention was, as stated at length above, simply to say what I personally would do, based upon my own assessment of the pragmatics of the case, and my own moral philosophy which in turn is based on a desire to increase happiness and reduce suffering."

He also argued: "Those who took offence because they know and love a person with Down's syndrome, and who thought I was saying that their loved one had no right to exist, I have sympathy for this emotional point, but it is an emotional one not a logical one. It is one of a common family of errors, one that frequently arises in the abortion debate."

Some Twitter users had supported the God Delusion author, agreeing with his assertion that there is a difference in deciding on a termination before a child is born, and suggesting after the child is born that it should have been aborted.

The Down's Syndrome Association (DSA) issued a response to Dawkin's initial comment.

They said: "People with Down's syndrome can and do live full and rewarding lives, they also make a valuable contribution to our society.

"At the Down's Syndrome Association, we do not believe Down's syndrome in itself should be a reason for termination, however, we realise that families must make their own choice.

"The DSA strives to ensure that all prospective parents are given accurate and up-to-date information about the condition and what life might be like today for someone with Down's syndrome."

Previously Dawkins caused controversy on Twitter when he said the world's Muslims had won fewer Nobel Prizes than Trinity College Cambridge.

Gammy: Australian parents wanted a refund and would have aborted him

In Channel Nine interview, couple claim Thai surrogate mother threatened to take their healthy baby

The Guardian, Amanda Meade in Sydney, Sunday 10 August 2014

David Farnell, right, and his wife Wendy, left, with baby Pipah. The couple deny
 abandoning their son Gammy, who was born with Down's syndrome. Photograph: AP

The Australian parents of baby Gammy wanted a refund from the Thai surrogacy agency when they were told one of their twins would be born with Down's syndrome.

"We were very confused and we said that this is your fault, you must now take some responsibility for this," Gammy's father, David Farnell, said in an interview aired on Channel Nine's 60 Minutes on Sunday night.

In their first media interview since it was revealed they had left their seriously ill and disabled son in Thailand and taken his healthy sister, Pipah, home alone, the Farnells also admitted they would have aborted Gammy because no "parent wants a son with a disability".

"It was late into the pregnancy that we learned the boy had Down's," Farnell said. "They sent us the reports but they didn't do the checks early enough. If it would have been safe for that embryo to be terminated, we probably would have terminated it, because he has a handicap and this is a sad thing. And it would be difficult – not impossible, but difficult."

Farnell and his less talkative wife, Wendy, tried to explain to interviewer Tara Brown why they had not brought Gammy back home to Western Australia. They denied abandoning him.

But there were many contradictions in the interview. David Farnell admitted the couple did not want a child with a disability but then also claimed they had wanted to take Gammy out of Thailand but were being threatened by the Thai surrogate, Pattaramon Chanbua.

"We didn't leave him behind," Farnell said. "We wanted to bring him with us but things were happening that we couldn't.

"The surrogate mother wanted to take our girl and we were getting scared that we were going to lose her. We had to try and get out as fast as we could."

Chanbua has contradicted the couple in earlier media reports, saying they ignored Gammy when they came to the hospital and were happy for her to keep him.

Farnell admitted he had not done enough research before starting the surrogacy process but said he had chosen Thailand because the people were kind and the hospitals looked "clean".

During the intense and at times bizarre interview, Farnell fought back tears and repeatedly said he had tried his best and had been very stressed.

"It's been very stressing," he said. "We miss our little boy. I come home from work some days and Wendy has dressed our little girl all in blue because she wants to remember the little boy."

Farnell then admitted he had not tried to make contact with Pattaramon or find out about his son's health and had not at any point contacted the Australian embassy to request assistance with taking Gammy home.

"We haven't asked directly," he said. "We've been trying to make sure first that Pipah is safe. No one can take her away from us. We've been trying to do that for six months. When we know she's 100% safe with us then we can go and get our boy back."

Farnell showed the most emotion when confronted with his history of child sexual offences, for which he was imprisoned.

"I have been convicted of child sex offences and I hang my head in shame," he said. "And I am deeply regretful for that. I am so, so sorry to those people. I was convicted and I went to jail."

Brown asked him if his daughter was safe in his care as he had a history of abusing children as young as five. Farnell said he no longer had an attraction to children.

"I don't have any thoughts about this at all. That is 100% the truth. I cannot do this again. I can't do this. I know that I do not have any urges at all of this nature. For 30 years I've known this. I don't have any urges."

Wendy said she trusted her husband. "He had three children before, they all love him and respect him so much. They said he's a wonderful father."

The Australian father of Gammy, born to a surrogate in Thailand, has denied

 abandoning the child while taking home his healthy twin sister. Photograph:

Rungroj Yongrit/EPA

Related Articles:

Australians with surrogate babies banned from leaving Thailand – reports - New
Thailand to ban commercial surrogacy in wake of Gammy scandal

Baby Gammy may be given Australian citizenship, government suggests
Gammy's mother demands his sister's return over child abuse allegations
International surrogacy laws in the spotlight amid row over baby Gammy
Australian couple 'leave disabled baby with Thai surrogate'

Baby Gammy may be given Australian citizenship, government suggests

Campaigners say infant with Down's syndrome 'abandoned' to Thai surrogate should have right to Australian healthcare

theguardian.com, Alexandra Topping, and Brendan Foster in Bunbury, Monday 4 August 2014

Six-month-old Gammy with his Thai surrogate mother Pattaramon
Chanbua. Photograph: Nicolas Asfouri/AFP/Getty Images

The Australian government has suggested that a child apparently abandoned to its surrogate mother in Thailand after being born with Down's syndrome may be given Australian citizenship.

The seven-month-old child, who is currently in hospital in Thailand for treatment of a life-threatening lung infection and will need further operations for a heart condition, has sparked a worldwide debate on the rules surrounding international surrogacy.

Pattaramon Chanbua, a 21-year-old foodseller in the coastal town of Sri Racha, is taking care of the boy, named Gammy, after an Australian couple, who have not been identified by the media, took his healthy twin sister back to their home in Western Australia.

Hundreds of thousands of pounds have been raised for the child via a viral online campaign since the story emerged.

Australia's immigration minister, Scott Morrison, told Sydney Radio 2GB on Monday that Pattaramon was "an absolute hero" and "a saint", and that the law surrounding the case was "very, very murky".

"We are taking a close look at what can be done here, but I wouldn't want to raise any false hopes or expectations," he said. "We are dealing with something that has happened in another country's jurisdiction."

Morrison's office later said in a statement that "the child may be eligible for Australian citizenship".

It is unclear if the Australian couple actually abandoned the child, as previous reports have suggested. Pattaramon has told journalists she was asked to abort her son after it was discovered he had Down's syndrome, and that the parents, from Bunbury, 171km south of Perth, would only take his healthy twin sister.

The parents told the ABC 7.30 programme that they had no knowledge of Gammy and were preparing to release a statement through their lawyers on Monday night, as media camped outside their home.

Pattaramon, however, who gave birth to twins after agreeing to be a surrogate for the couple, has said they saw Gammy in hospital. She said the agency organising the surrogacy knew about Gammy's condition four to five months after she became pregnant, but did not tell her. When it suggested in her seventh month of pregnancy that she should abort one of the twins, she refused. She was promised A$16,000 (£8,900), but has yet to see all of the money.

"If they don't know about the twin, they wouldn't be crying the day after they took the girl out of the hospital and home to Australia," she told ABC. "They probably would have not asked me to have a abortion if they truly don't know [about the twin with Down's syndrome]."

ABC said it had spoken to the biological parents, who were still claiming never to have seen Gammy, twice at their home. They reportedly said: "We saw a few people at the hospital. We didn't know who the surrogate was. It was very confusing. There was a language barrier."

Pattaramon, who lives 90km south of Bangkok with her six-year-old son and three-year-old daughter, said she would raise Gammy as if the boy was her own. "I love him," she said. "He was in my tummy for nine months. It is like my child. I love him like my own. I treat him like any other children."

An online campaign called Hope for Gammy, administered by the Australian charity Hands Across the Water, has raised around $220,000 to help Gammy since 22 July. Mora Kelly, the founder of the Children First Foundation, which brings sick children from developing countries to Australia for medical treatment, said she had discussed bringing Gammy to Melbourne for heart surgery with Hands Across the Water. "I believe that this child should be able to access our healthcare system here in Australia," she told ABC. "This child, in essence … should be an Australian citizen."

It is illegal to pay a surrogate mother in Australia, and in some states, not including Western Australia, it is illegal to pay a surrogate living overseas. An Australian woman can act as a surrogate for free, but also has the right to keep the child rather than hand it over to the biological parents.

Richard Terrins, a solicitor specialising in surrogacy at Natalie Gamble Associates, said an increasing number of couples were looking for surrogate mothers overseas because of the difficulty in finding one in their own country. In the UK surrogacy is legal, but a couple can only pay "reasonable expenses" to a surrogate mother.

"The most popular countries are the US where it is legal in some states, India, Ukraine and now this case in Thailand has been publicised," Terrins said. "There is a push for more regulation in this area, because if it was clearer where people stand both parties would be more at ease."

Gammy's case was rare, he added. "In general, people have very positive outcomes from surrogacy. More often than not, it doesn't go wrong."

The Australian father of Gammy, born to a surrogate in Thailand, has denied

 abandoning the child while taking home his healthy twin sister. Photograph:

Rungroj Yongrit/EPA

Related Articles:

Gammy: Australian parents wanted a refund and would have aborted him - New
Gammy's mother demands his sister's return over child abuse allegations
International surrogacy laws in the spotlight amid row over baby Gammy

Australian couple 'leave disabled baby with Thai surrogate'

Australian couple 'leave disabled baby with Thai surrogate'

Yahoo - AFP, 1 Aug 2014

The "Hope for Gammy" fundraising page has so far raised more than $98,000 for
a Down's Syndrome baby who was left with his surrogate mother (Photo: Gerard Julien)

Well-wishers on Friday had raised nearly $100,000 for a baby reportedly left with his surrogate Thai mother after his Australian parents discovered he had Down's Syndrome and returned home with his healthy twin sister.

Pattaramon Chanbua from Chonburi province, southeast of Bangkok, agreed via an agent to be a surrogate for the couple for a fee of Aus$16,000 ($14,900), giving birth to twins -- a boy and a girl -- in December, according to press reports.

But when the Australians discovered the boy, named Gammy by his surrogate family, had Down's Syndrome they abandoned him in Thailand and returned to Australia with only the healthy girl, Australia's ABC said.

"The money that was offered was a lot for me. In my mind, with that money, one, we can educate my children, two, we can repay our debt," said Pattaramon, already a mother to two children, in an interview with the broadcaster in Chonburi.

But instead the 21-year-old was left to care for the boy who also suffers from a life-threatening heart condition requiring expensive treatment she cannot afford, according to ABC.

"I don't know what to do. I chose to have him... I love him, he was in my tummy for nine months," she said in the interview.

Pattaramon has never met Gammy's Australian parents, according to Thai newspaper Thairath, which broke the story of Gammy last week, and their identities remain unknown.

"They (the surrogacy agency) told me to carry a baby for a family that does not have children... They said it would be a baby in a tube," she said.

A spokesman for Australia's foreign affairs department told AFP Canberra was "concerned" by the reports and was in consultation with Thai authorities over surrogacy issues.

"The alleged circumstances of the case raise broader legal and other issues relating to surrogacy in Thailand," he said.

Many foreign couples travel to Thailand, a popular medical tourism hub, to use its in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) services despite the unclear legal situation surrounding surrogacy.

Tares Krassanairawiwong, a Thai public health ministry official, said it was illegal to pay for surrogacy in Thailand.

"Surrogacy can be done in Thailand but it has to comply with the laws... A surrogate has to be related to the intended parents and no money can be involved."

The reports about Gammy's abandonment have triggered hundreds to donate to a fundraising page created for him last week.

By late Friday the "Hope for Gammy" page had raised more than $98,000.

It also carried scores of comments, many of which expressed outrage at the boy's abandonment by his parents.

"May this selfish and heartless couple be exposed and shamed for this horrible neglect!" said one.

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Baby Gammy along with his mother and siblings at home

in Thailand. Photograph: ABC TV.