Surrogacy: Parental Orders
Parental Orders
Due to surrogacy arrangements being unenforceable, if the intended parents want to be the legal parents, they have to go through a processs of parental transfer. This was once only attainable through adoption, but the HFEA created a process by which the courts could give applicants a parental order. The Parental Order has many affects:
- Fundamentally a Parental Order will terminate the surrogate's and her husband's or civil parter's, if applicable, legal parenthood.
- Through Issue of a new birth certificate this legal parental status will be transferred to the intended parents.
- This will result in the intended parents having parental responsibility of the child(ren) and will extinguish the surrogate's parental responsibility
Granting a Parental Order Through s.54(1)-(8) of the Human Fertility and Embryology Act 2008.
The HFEA 2008 outlines the conditions to a parental order being granted:
- s.54(1) covers how the child is conceived, it must have been carried by someone who is not one of the applicants, through artificial insemination and it must be genetically related to at least one of the applicants
- s.54(2) covers the applicants relation, they must be husband and wife, in a civil partnership or two people who are living together in an enduring relationship and who are not in a prohibited degree of relationship
- s.54(3) covers the time limit in which the applicants can apply, this must be within 6 months of birth
- s.54(4) covers where the child must be living, this must be with the applicants and in the UK, channel islands or on the isle of man
- s.54(5) covers the age limit of the applicants which must be 18 or over
- s.54(6)-(7) cover consent. The parties must all have freely consented to and have understood whta was happening and what they were agreeing too unless (s.54(7)) they cannot be found or cannot give consent.
- s.54(8) says no payments 'beyond reasonable expenses' could have been given for any part of the arrangement, unless they are authorised by the court
If all of these steps have been followed, a Parental Order will be granted, however the act has revealed some major failings which will be scrutinised in the next lesson.