diff --git a/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/fabric/FabricUIManager.java b/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/fabric/FabricUIManager.java
index 02fcd63fade..4c863b70209 100644
--- a/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/fabric/FabricUIManager.java
+++ b/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/fabric/FabricUIManager.java
@@ -431,8 +431,9 @@ public class FabricUIManager implements UIManager, LifecycleEventListener {
   @SuppressWarnings("unused")
   @AnyThread
   @ThreadConfined(ANY)
-  private MountItem createBatchMountItem(MountItem[] items, int size, int commitNumber) {
-    return new BatchMountItem(items, size, commitNumber);
+  private MountItem createBatchMountItem(
+      int rootTag, MountItem[] items, int size, int commitNumber) {
+    return new BatchMountItem(rootTag, items, size, commitNumber);
   }
 
   @DoNotStrip
@@ -786,6 +787,22 @@ public class FabricUIManager implements UIManager, LifecycleEventListener {
           }
         }
 
+        // Make sure surface associated with this MountItem has been started, and not stopped.
+        // TODO T68118357: clean up this logic and simplify this method overall
+        if (mountItem instanceof BatchMountItem) {
+          BatchMountItem batchMountItem = (BatchMountItem) mountItem;
+          int rootTag = batchMountItem.getRootTag();
+          if (mReactContextForRootTag.get(rootTag) == null) {
+            ReactSoftException.logSoftException(
+                TAG,
+                new ReactNoCrashSoftException(
+                    "dispatchMountItems: skipping batched item: surface not available ["
+                        + rootTag
+                        + "]"));
+            continue;
+          }
+        }
+
         // TODO: if early ViewCommand dispatch ships 100% as a feature, this can be removed.
         // This try/catch catches Retryable errors that can only be thrown by ViewCommands, which
         // won't be executed here in Early Dispatch mode.
diff --git a/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/fabric/jni/Binding.cpp b/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/fabric/jni/Binding.cpp
index f78973739fc..63f9c78265d 100644
--- a/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/fabric/jni/Binding.cpp
+++ b/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/fabric/jni/Binding.cpp
@@ -841,11 +841,15 @@ void Binding::schedulerDidFinishTransaction(
   static auto createMountItemsBatchContainer =
       jni::findClassStatic(UIManagerJavaDescriptor)
           ->getMethod<alias_ref<JMountItem>(
-              jtypeArray<JMountItem::javaobject>, jint, jint)>(
+              jint, jtypeArray<JMountItem::javaobject>, jint, jint)>(
               "createBatchMountItem");
 
   auto batch = createMountItemsBatchContainer(
-      localJavaUIManager, mountItemsArray.get(), position, commitNumber);
+      localJavaUIManager,
+      surfaceId,
+      mountItemsArray.get(),
+      position,
+      commitNumber);
 
   static auto scheduleMountItem = jni::findClassStatic(UIManagerJavaDescriptor)
                                       ->getMethod<void(
diff --git a/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/fabric/mounting/mountitems/BatchMountItem.java b/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/fabric/mounting/mountitems/BatchMountItem.java
index 4588c7fb8f4..85034aa0432 100644
--- a/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/fabric/mounting/mountitems/BatchMountItem.java
+++ b/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/fabric/mounting/mountitems/BatchMountItem.java
@@ -26,13 +26,14 @@ import com.facebook.systrace.Systrace;
 @DoNotStrip
 public class BatchMountItem implements MountItem {
 
+  private final int mRootTag;
   @NonNull private final MountItem[] mMountItems;
 
   private final int mSize;
 
   private final int mCommitNumber;
 
-  public BatchMountItem(MountItem[] items, int size, int commitNumber) {
+  public BatchMountItem(int rootTag, MountItem[] items, int size, int commitNumber) {
     if (items == null) {
       throw new NullPointerException();
     }
@@ -40,6 +41,7 @@ public class BatchMountItem implements MountItem {
       throw new IllegalArgumentException(
           "Invalid size received by parameter size: " + size + " items.size = " + items.length);
     }
+    mRootTag = rootTag;
     mMountItems = items;
     mSize = size;
     mCommitNumber = commitNumber;
@@ -68,6 +70,10 @@ public class BatchMountItem implements MountItem {
     Systrace.endSection(Systrace.TRACE_TAG_REACT_JAVA_BRIDGE);
   }
 
+  public int getRootTag() {
+    return mRootTag;
+  }
+
   @Override
   public String toString() {
     StringBuilder s = new StringBuilder();