# Surrogacy for 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 realted 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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## staceysm (Nov 18, 2010)

Hi Sarah,

It maybe worth asking on the lawyer thread to, as I am sure that there was a similar post about this recently.

Good luck

X


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## olinaiti (Aug 23, 2011)

Hi!
We just got our parental order from the high court and indeed you cannot obtain  one unless you are married . You definitely should seek legal advice about this . Don't know if there is a way to gain the parental rights in any way in this country if you did surrogacy as a single person. Good luck !


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## NatGamble (Mar 1, 2007)

Hi there
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


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## NatGamble (Mar 1, 2007)

olinaiti said:


> Hi!
> We just got our parental order from the high court and indeed you cannot obtain one unless you are married . You definitely should seek legal advice about this . Don't know if there is a way to gain the parental rights in any way in this country if you did surrogacy as a single person. Good luck !


You don't need to be married any more to get a parental order, but you do need to be a couple living together as partners if you are not.


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## olinaiti (Aug 23, 2011)

ooh sorry the rules must have changed after we originally started our surrogacy process ...


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