Charity Funds Claim by Baby Gammy Family

The Australian father of baby Gammy, the child at the centre of a surrogate scandal in Thailand, has allegedly tried to access more than AUD$235,000 donated to support his son.

Gammy and his twin sister were born in Thailand in July last year to a surrogate mother.

Gammy was born with Down Syndrome and was allegedly rejected by his parents who returned to Western Australia with their daughter.

An appeal set up by GoFundMe accepted the donations from Australia and around the world, before transferring management to an Australian-based charity Hands Across the Water. The charity says it strives to give Thai children and their communities a helping hand.

In a statement released today, Founder and Chair Peter Baines, OAM, said the charity was made aware several weeks ago that Gammy’s family, the Farnells, were taking action to access the Baby Gammy Special Appeal Fund.

“We have no information as to the justification the Farnells, or their legal team, are making to support the application for access to the funds,” Baines said in the statement.

“We take this matter very seriously and we are doing all that we can to defend this action to ensure the money donated remains for the care of Baby Gammy, which we believe was the intent of those who so generously donated the funds.

“Hands Across the Water prides itself on the fact that 100 per cent of donated funds go directly to support the children and communities in which we operate in Thailand – and this applies to the funds that we manage on behalf of Baby Gammy.

“We have developed a long term and well-constructed strategy to support Baby Gammy based upon the best advice that we could obtain in relation to Baby Gammy’s current and future needs.

“We believe the intent of those who donated the funds was very clear; they expected those funds to be used solely for the support of Gammy and his long term future.”