Adoption in the UK following double gamete surrogacy in the US

Mary Welstead, Visiting Professor in Family law University of Buckingham

In C and Another v E (International Surrogacy and Domestic Adoption) ([2025] 2 FLR 637), attention was drawn to the problems of surrogate births following double gamete donation particulary when undertaken abroad abroad. Intended parents may not be granted a parental order and will have to apply to adopt the child if they are to become his or her legal parents. The courts face a fait accompli having little choice other than to grant adoption orders because the Adoption and Children Act 2002 demands that the the child’s welfare throughout his/her life must be the court’s paramount consideration.

Double gamete donation is not forbidden in the UK  so why should those who use it be punished by being denied parental orders. The Law Commissions’ report urged caution in any reform of the law relating to double gamete surrogacy; would it lead to aged parents seeking to have children; does the practice seem to close to baby buying? Those in favour of reform argue that the law is discriminatory against single women who cannot gestate a child and who require double gamete donation. They also see it as contrary to a child’s best interests.