I just read a note from The Guardian about a New Zealand gay couple who had surrogate children in Mexico. They are appealing for help because they need money, and also “to get out of a hell hole infested with cockroaches” (paraphrasing). Full note

I found the note quite sad, it is great that in Mexico a gay couple is able to achieve parenthood via surrogacy. And it can be quite stressful to deal with bureaucracy in a foreign country, with a foreign culture and language you don’t speak. I am sure the parents are aching to go back to their houses and start living their lives with their new family. But there are normal bureaucratic procedures that have to be met just to give passports of two different countries to the kids. The authorities have the duty to ensure a proper adoption process, with everything that entails.

Added to that stressful situation, it seems they are also having economic difficulties. Private medicine is expensive in Mexico like in almost every other part of the world. Specially for pre-term babies who need special equipment and 24 hour-care.

Probably the parents did not know, but in Mexico the kids had the right to go to a public hospital to be treated for free using the Popular Insurance (Seguro Popular).

At the end of they day, economic difficulties and bureaucratic-induced stress is no excuse to pander to get donations. Probably they would have gotten more donations if they highlighted the beauty of becoming parents, instead of pandering to the fears of TV image of Mexico.

It is sad because the memory of the country of their kids will not be a nice one, it will be this horrible image they are falsely building based on a stressful situation.

What I see in the pictures are three healthy babies that are ready to start their lives with their parents.