When a child is born via a surrogacy arrangement, the legal parents are the surrogate mother and, if they have consented to the arrangement, her spouse or civil partner. The intended parents must apply for a parental order or adoption in order to become the child's legal parents. Recently, the High Court granted a couple's application for a parental order in respect of a ten-month-old boy.
The couple were unable to have children themselves. In February 2023 they went to Germany to visit a same-sex couple they had met on holiday some years earlier and become friends with. During that visit, one of the German couple offered to be a surrogate. The boy was born in December 2023: the couple returned to the UK with him and subsequently applied for a parental order in respect of him.
In considering whether to grant the order, the Court had to determine whether the requirements of Section 54 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 were met. The Court noted that the couple were married, at least one of them was genetically related to the child, they were both over the age of 18 and domiciled in the UK, and the application had been received by the Court within six months of the boy's birth.
The relevant consent forms had been signed by the German couple and witnessed by a German notary. Remarking that the arrangements had been 'suffused with altruism and kindness', the Court had no hesitation in concluding that the German couple had given their consent freely and with a clear understanding of everything involved.
The Court was also satisfied that, as required under UK law, the surrogate mother had received no money or benefit other than reasonable expenses. Sums paid by the couple to the surrogate mother were to cover loss of earnings and medical expenses, as well as private midwifery services.
Observing that the boy was 'a much wanted and loved child' whose birth was 'generated by adult kindness, friendship and empathetic cooperation', the Court was delighted to make the order sought.