Tom Daley and his husband, Dustin Lance Black, have announced they are expecting their first child together via a surrogate. As Tom Daley has discovered, UK law is a minefield and not supportive of commercial arrangements; the same cannot be said for his husband’s homeland, the USA, where in many states commercial surrogacy is legal.
The restrictions in place in the UK mean that often couples feel more confident with foreign surrogates. But, even if you go abroad for treatment and your surrogate is a foreign national, and even if the country in which the child is born issues documentation confirming the commissioning couple are legal parents, UK law does not recognise that and will still regard the surrogate as legal mother unless and until the UK courts make a parental order.