The process of applying for the parental order is considered to be very simple. You do not need to have a solicitor, although, there are people, who prefer to apply to the help of a lawyer, as it makes feel more secure.
• In order to be fitted to the Parental Order, the intended parents are to be:
• Older than 18 years;
• Married to one another;
• Be citizens of the United Kingdom;
• At least one person from the couple is to be related to the child from the point of view of genetics.
According to the English Law, the intended parents are to begin the application process with fulfilling the “Application for Parental Order (C51)” form, which is handed in to the local Family Proceeding Court. After that, the Court provides the intended parents with the Acknowledgement Form (C52). Them it is necessary to fill-in form C52 and serve it on the surrogate mother and her partner (in case if she has a boyfriend of a husband), along with the copy of their application for a Parental Order (C51). The surrogate mother completes the form and returns it to the court.
After the Parental Order is approved by the court, the intended parents receive a new birth certificate, in which it is stated, that the intended parents are the baby’s legal mother and father.
According to the Scottish Law, the Parental Order forms the need of intended parents under the “Child Maintenance Rule 1997 Form 22”. It is to be represented to the Sheriff Court.
The baby is to live already with the intended parents, and consent is to be obtained form the surrogate mother and the baby’s legal father, and the surrogacy arrangements is to be implemented. It should also be noted, that no money, or any other kind of benefit, rather than expenses, incurred reasonably, is to be paid to the surrogate mother, unless, anything gets authorized by the Court.
After the forms were sent to the Court, the date for the intended parents to appear is given for them. The intended parents must come to the Court in order to assign a Parental Order Reporter (it used to be named “Guardian Ad Litem”) to the case, and to ask him / her how long will the report be prepared. Then the Court will be adjourned until the date, appointed.
The task of the Parental Order Reporter, after he is appointed by the Court is to enquire as to whether all the requirements from the Section 30 of the HFEA act 1990 are being compiled with. It is also up to him to find out, if there is any possible reason why a Parental Order cannot be made in lights of the welfare of the baby principle set out in the Adoption Act, as it is modified by the Parental Orders Regulations.
The Parental Order Reporter visits the intended parents and the surrogate mother in their homes, and there he / she asks them a lot of different questions, which have something to do with the surrogacy arrangements. This person does it to make sure, that all the surrogacy arrangements were fulfilled of the free will of all the participants. The Parental Order Reporter also finds out if there was nothing illegal going on during or after the arrangements.
There are cases, when the DNA test conducting may be necessary for the Court in order to provide the parentage of the baby, delivered. Because one of the parental order obtaining requirements is for at least one of the intended parents to have biological relation to the baby, the Court has right to request the DNA test conducting results. Of course, this is not an often requirement procedure, but any potential intended parent is to be aware of it.
Finally, the Parental Order Reporter submits his / her report to the Court, and it becomes up to the Court to make a decision whether the parental rights granted to the intended parents or not. The function of the Court is to determine what would be in the best interest of the child.
According to the English Law, if the Parental Order is approved, the intended parents receive a new birth certificate, where it is stated, that the intended parents are the legal mother and father of the child.
According to the Scottish Law, the intended parents receive a kind of an extract of the Parental Order, which looks almost like the birth certificate, but there are words “Extract of the Parental Order” written in the top left hand corner of it.
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