Hundreds of Australian families may now not be able to bring their babies home.

Update:

Great news.

Adam and Kate Osborne, the Australians who have been stuck in Thailand with their baby daughters after Thau authorities cracked down on surrogacy laws, have finally arrived home.

The couple arrived at Port Macquarie airport at 10am yesterday clutching newborn babies Sierra-Leone and Mali, the Daily Telegraph reports.

The young parents looked pleased to present their babies to some of the extended family for the first time.

“It’s hard to describe the feeling, I was just overwhelmed,” said grandmother Barbara Osborne, the Daily Telegraph reports. “It was just relief to see them and know that they’d come home safe.”

Previously, Mamamia wrote…

Thai authorities have said they will exercise leniency around recent international surrogacy cases.

Thailand has indicated it will fast-track court-clearance processes that, as previously reported, would take around 6 months and cost up to $50,000.

News.com.au reports an estimated 10 Australian families with 14 children are currently awaiting clearance to leave the country after a recent crackdown on commercial surrogacy laws in Thailand.

But Thailand’s new Prime Minister and Army Chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha says they will consider speeding up the court clearance process on a case-by-case basis.

“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 in a televised address on Friday. “The clinics that hired them or asked them to do it have been closed, so it is dangerous for the babies.”

“I have already ordered leniency on a case-by-case basis,” he said.

Update:

The Australian Osborne family, who are stuck in Thailand and unable to bring their twin girls home, require a costly court order to make it home.

News.com.au reports the order will likely take three to six months to obtain and cost them $20,000 –$50,000 — but Adam Osborne says he’s reached his credit card spending limit after the couple spent around $100,000 on IVF.

Mr Osborne was also sacked from his job just days before flying to Thailand last month, News.com.au reports.

Thai authorities have made it mandatory for foreign biological parents to obtain a court order before being able to depart the country, as part of their crackdown on surrogacy following the ‘baby Gammy’ controversy.

Anyone who disobeys the new Thai law could potentially be charged with child trafficking, the Daily Mail reports.

Hundreds of Australian couples face an agonising wait

The Osbornes are just one of an estimated 200 Australian couples waiting to hear whether they will be able to take their babies home after the Thai crackdown on surrogacy, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Same-sex couple Steve, 46, and James, 47, are in Bangkok waiting to bring their three-week-old son Rhyley — born the day after Thailand’s tightening of surrogacy laws — home to Melbourne.

At least three other Australian coples and their babies have been turned back from the airport in recent days, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Previously, Mamamia wrote…

An Australian couple who recently became parents to twin girls born via surrogate in Thailand are reportedly trapped in the south-east Asian country and unable to bring their girls home.

NSW’s Kate and Adam Osbourne and their newborn daughters, Sierra-Leone and Mali, are feeling the effects of a Thai government crackdown on commercial surrogacy, which came into effect after the story of Baby Gammy made headlines around the world in recent weeks.

Seven-month-old baby Gammy was allegedly abandoned in Thailand by his Australian biological parents when they found out he had Down syndrome.

According to a fundraising page set up to help the family, the Osbourne’s risk being arrested for human trafficking if they try and bring their one-month-old babies home.

This from the family’s Go Fund me page:

Due to the surrogacy controversy in Australia, Kate, Adam and their twin girls are stuck in Thailand while this mess is sorted out, they are in a tiny Motel room with two newborns and money is running out fast, help us to keep Kate and Adam with their babies while they battle to bring the twins back to Australia with them.

Adam and Kate are from NSW and have been trying for many, many years to conceive, this was their last resort and have been blessed with two robust little girls, I am frightened for them and I am sure the stress they are under is taking its toll, please help me to help them start their parenting lives in the comfort of their own homes, they are in Bangkok and being interviewed by immigration, so far the Australian Government have not helped them.

According to a comment on the page from Mr Osbourne, the couple have the relevant paperwork to bring their daughters home – but that paperwork is now unusable.

“If any of you don’t know the Thailand government has been over thrown, and now the Thailand army are running the country. This means any laws they want to change or any new law they want to make can be done instantly without legislation and effective immediately,” Mr Osbourne wrote.

“This is where our problem starts, since baby “Gammy” was abandoned by his UNFIT (@#$$#@#$#@@#) parents, the Army has cracked down on commercial surrogacy which is the road we took in order to have a family. Commercial surrogacy is illegal in Australia,” he said.

“In Thailand the laws say that the birth mother of any baby born in Thailand is the legal mother, guardian, parent of that child NO MATTER WHAT. Before the thai army cracked down on commercial surrogacy(22/7/2014) the twins birthday you could just leave the country without anyone batting an eyelid with your new family. Now its a different story, now its considered “Human trafficking” because they see it as though we are stealing someones children,and if they ask to see babies birth certificate that is proof because our surrogates name is on certificate as their mother.”

In his post, Mr Osbourne said the couple had had DNA tests done and said there was no doubt that the twins were biologically theirs.

For more details on how you can help the family, head to their Go Fund Me page here. Nearly $4000 has been raised so far.