Today we became our son’s legal parents! There’s no change in practice - he’s been with us from birth - but his birth cert can now list us as his fathers. It’s a special day but we’re hoping parents through UK surrogacy won’t have to go through this legal process for much longer

UK surrogacy law is being reformed and changes are long overdue. Getting a parental order is a process that takes about six months through social services and courts. Surrogates having automatic legal parenthood from birth doesn’t reflect the reality of the baby’s early life

UK surrogates have been central to calling for these changes. Currently they are at risk of being left with legal parental responsibility for a child who is not in their care. The vast majority of these women, who carry babies for others altruistically, say they want legal change

The Law Commission has done extensive work on this and its proposals include proper regulation and safeguards for all pre-conception and parents having legal status from birth, while maintaining surrogates’ rights to object to this in the very rare cases where this is needed.

The surrogacy community also overwhelmingly favours UK surrogacy remaining altruistic, with no payments for carrying a baby (the vast majority of UK surrogates report not wanting to be paid to protect the principle of surrogacy through friendship and to prevent exploitation)

Sir Nicholas Green, Chairman of the Law Commission has said: “The laws around surrogacy are outdated and no longer fit for purpose. We think our proposals will create a system that works for the surrogates, the parents and, most importantly, the child.”

You can read about the Law Commission’s work on surrogacy here if you’re interested: https://www.lawcom.gov.uk/project/surrogacy/

And here’s another picture of Solly, our son now legally as well as in reality. We and his surrogate @MrsRPx and her family are celebrating tonight by eating Chinese food (no sweet and sour chicken balls for Solly yet though)