Youth welfare office intervenes They paid 50,000 euros for their baby - then suddenly Interpol got involved

A German couple fulfills their belated wish for a child through surrogacy. Then the youth welfare office intervenes - and even gets Interpol involved. A new ARD documentary now gets to the bottom of this sensational case.

"Fluffy little hands, big eyes": When Ruby - whose real name is different - plays, she seems like "a completely normal child". This is what it says at the beginning of the new ARD documentary "When babies become a commodity - the surrogate mother business". However, little has been normal in the two-year-old's life so far. The girl neither knows her biological parents, nor does she live with the people who commissioned her from a surrogacy agency as a wanted child.

It is a remarkable case, as reported by "team.recherche": Heike and Claude were both almost 60 when they attended a fertility fair a few years ago. Shortly before, their application for adoption had been rejected because of their age. "There are people who are even older who have children," Claude says in the interview. His partner agrees with him: "There are people who are younger and terminally ill. And there are some who are older and still fit."

At the fair, the couple sought advice from a surrogacy agency. A short time later, Heike and Claude commissioned their child for around 50,000 euros, including an anonymous egg and sperm donation.

10,000 dollars for the Argentinian surrogate mother

Argentinian Alejandra, who became aware of the unusual job offer via a Facebook group, was commissioned as the surrogate mother. "I was in a difficult situation. I needed money," she explains in the interview. Because only non-commercial surrogacy is permitted in her home country, the mother of two did not sign a contract, but a medical consent form. Alejandra explains that she received money anyway: 10,000 dollars plus expenses, which a stranger handed to her in cash in his car.

Shortly before Ruby was born, Alejandra met Claude and Heike for the first time. "I thought: what a good life this girl will have," recalls the surrogate mother, who remained in contact with the German couple in the weeks that followed.

But then everything changed. When Ruby caught a cold about a month after her birth, Heike took her to hospital. However, the doctors became suspicious: the baby only had Argentinian papers; in addition, Heike is said to have been "very insecure" when dealing with the girl, as the documentary states. The clinic called in the youth welfare office, which eventually expressed suspicion that the child's welfare was at risk. Since then, the little bed in Heike and Claude's home has been empty again: Ruby still lives with a foster family.

Surrogacy agent compares himself to God

The hospital visit was not without consequences in Argentina either. Thanks to a tip-off from the German youth welfare office, the Argentinian authorities became aware of the surrogacy network, which had remained hidden until then. Police officers searched clinics, notaries and lawyers' offices. Little Ruby was even reported in the news as "case zero".

The Argentinian public prosecutor's office investigated human trafficking and organized crime - including against Carlos Leiva, the "case manager" in the Ruby case. The film team itself almost seems unable to believe that the man, who was even wanted by Interpol in the meantime, agreed to be interviewed.

"I didn't do anything wrong," he finally asserts as he takes his seat in front of the camera. He is "proud" of his "business", says Leiva, who used to work for a car rental company. "I've made more than 400 families happy. I've been doing this for 15 years - and I'm continuing," announces the Argentinian, who lives in Spain, and claims: "I'm God to them!"

Politicians speak out in favor of a surrogacy ban

Leiva denies the accusation that he was involved in commercial surrogacy. After all, Alejandra had not signed a contract. When the reporter confronts him with the fact that money had nevertheless flowed in, he shouts: "Of course! Everything is commercial. Life is commercial!"

For Verónica Toller from the Argentinian Ministry of National Security, the matter is clear: "The activities and networks - this is a new form of human trafficking." German politician Leni Breymaier (SPD) also explains in the film why she believes the ban on surrogacy in Germany is right: "Money flows and then a human child is handed over. The big debate we have to have is: do we have a right to a child?" Breymaier emphasizes that she herself would "actually answer this question in the negative".