# Surrogacy and single women



## sarah999 (Apr 5, 2013)

Help please. I gather that surrogacy is allowed for single persons in Virginia, Cyprus, Thailand, and Mexico at the moment (no longer in India). If I were able to find a surrogate in one of these countries who would carry donor embryos related to my little girl (embryos created using donor sperm and eggs so not related to me genetically, but related to my little girl), does anyone know if I would be able to gain custody of the child to live in the Uk. I know a parental order will be a problem. My fear is that the child could be left stranded in another country.

Any legal advice on this much appreciated.


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## NatGamble (Mar 1, 2007)

Hi Sarah

I've just posted this on the Surrogacy Boards as well, and forgive the repetition but I thought this might help anyone else looking at this thread later too.

Legally this is really tricky. I'm all for finding creative solutions wherever possible but it's hard to see how it can be done, particularly if you have no genetic connection. To explain:

Your child will not be born British (even if you are named on the birth certificate as the mother in the country where your child is born) because British nationality law treats the woman who gives birth as the mother. You cannot use the normal routes that surrogacy parents using for getting immigration clearance/a British passport, since these all rely on a genetic connection. There is therefore a very big risk that your child will be stranded in a foreign country.

You will also have no obvious way of becoming a legal parent in the UK. The best solution would be to apply for adoption, but in an international situation that is a complex process and you would need to deal with it long in advance (and therefore would need the support of the authorities and an adoption agency). There are some lesser solutions not as difficult as adoption, but these are only available if your child is habitually resident in the UK and if you can't get your child back here, you won't be able to apply.

I am sorry to be doom and gloom but this would need some very careful legal planning (to see if you could make adoption law work somehow), and there may not even be a solution. Are there any other possible treatment options for you? Would you consider applying to adopt a child rather than have treatment?

Natalie

Read more: http://www.fertilityfriends.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=304561.0#ixzz2Pcwk1I7b


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## sarah999 (Apr 5, 2013)

The main reason that I wanted to go down this route is so any potential brothers/sisters , would be part of a family where they were genetically related to their existing sister, who is already resident in the UK (she is four). This child was born using donor embryos and IVF, but since then I have had to have a hysterotomy so, I would have no chance of carrying the related embryos myself, and hence the need for a surrogate.


the key, really for me, is that, the embryos are related to my existing child, who is resident in the Uk. Would this not many any difference to the legal proceedings?

I might be able to adopt, I guess , but at the age of 50, I am not so sure that I would even be considered in the Uk, especially not for a baby. I think the child would need to be about 10 or so. I would adopt an older child IF there were not any existing embryos. (I probably would not go down this route, because I would be so upset that I had abondoned my existing embryos.) 

This would  mean giving away the embryos that are already in existence, and this I would find heartbreaking, as it is really these embryos that I would like to use.

Am I correct in thinking also, that the adoption process would involve many many visits from social services in The Uk?

Obviously the thought of leaving a stranded child also fills me with horror. Would an only solution be to actually live in the country where the child was born?


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## sarah999 (Apr 5, 2013)

Sorry to add more, but do you actually know of situations where a child has been stranded like this? Have there been situations/stories of not being able to bring a child home? Would the child then be brought up by the natural birth mother or get put into care? Obviously I would not responsibilibly want to create this type of situation.To have a stranded child would be terrible.

I did not realise just how complex legally it could be.

Would I never be able to bring my child back home on a British passport, even to visit family , even if I were able to completely uproot my home, existing family, find a new school, find a job and residence in say for example Thailand. 

Do you have any idea which local authority (I live in Worcestershire) I would need to contact just to sound it out? When you say local authority, do you mean social services?


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