The father of the baby girl told the ABC they weren’t informed about the infant’s twin by the surrogacy agency they used to connect with the child’s birth mother.
He also said that he and his partner had had “a lot of trouble” dealing with the agency, and that it no longer existed.
Surrogate mother Pattaramon Chanbua was reportedly paid $16,000 to carry the Perth couple’s child.
She has contradicted claims the Perth-based couple didn’t know about the baby boy, named Gammy. She says her doctors, the surrogacy agency and the baby’s parents knew of a second disabled twin by the time her pregnancy reached four months.
Ms Chanbua also says the Perth-based couple took Gammy’s sister after she was born, but left the baby boy behind, claiming they were “too old” to care for twins.
The father of the Australian couple is believed to be in his 50s.
According to earlier reports, the surrogate mother was advised to have an abortion after it became clear one of the twins had Down syndrome.
She refused to terminate the pregnancy because of her Buddhist faith.
The Hope for Gammy campaign was set up to help fund the baby’s operations. At the time of publication it had raised $126,317 with a fundraising goal of $200,000.
“6 month old baby Gammy was born in Bangkok with down syndrome and a congenital heart condition. He was abandoned by his family and is being cared for by a young Thai woman who does not have the funds for his desperately needed medical treatment,” the GoFundMe page says.
“Please make a donation so that he can have these operations and improve his quality of life. All monies raised will be kept in trust and will only be used for the care and wellbeing of Gammy.”
