At present, parental orders only apply to couples, although the law has kept up to date by allowing this to include civil partners and cohabitees.

However, you cannot apply for a parental order if you will be acting as a single parent. A parental order means the child legally becomes the child of the parents, not the surrogate mother.

There are calls for reform to prevent children born through surrogacy to single parents from falling into the current position they tend to find themselves in – a kind of legal uncertainty as a ward of court.

The area has been brought to attention again this year as the High Court dealt with the case of Re Z (A Child) (No 2). It was ruled that a UK parental order could not be granted for the British biological father of a 21-month-old boy, born through an arrangement with a surrogate mother in the US. The order is needed to remove the responsibilities from the surrogate mother, who held sole decision-making rights even in the UK.

A formal declaration has been made by Sir James Munby, the President of the High Court Family Division, that decisions such as these demonstrate that our current law discriminates against single parents with children born through surrogacy agreements. Subsequently, the law as it stands is incompatible with the Human Rights of both the single parent and the child.

In an even more positive move, this declaration was conceded by the Secretary of State for Health. Such declarations of incompatibility with human rights are rare and consequently taken very seriously. The overwhelming majority of these declarations have actually led to Parliament reforming the law. Although it is at present unclear whether this will be the case for surrogacy, high hopes are held.

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