International surrogacy in a war zone — securing a Parental Order in the UK

In a case described by a High Court Judge as a “tsunami of love”, our family law team secured a Parental Order for a same-sex couple who had traversed war zones to bring their child — born via surrogacy — home to the UK.

Navigating surrogacy during the conflict in Ukraine

Our clients came from China — where same-sex marriage and civil unions aren’t currently recognised — to make their home in the UK. They got married and embarked on an international surrogacy agreement in order to start their family here. 

Our clients were introduced to a woman who would be their surrogate. She lived in Ukraine and all the fertility treatment took place at a clinic in Kiev. The family discovered that the treatment was successful and their surrogate was pregnant just days before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

Throughout the pregnancy and at the birth of the child, our clients navigated travel to and from Ukraine during the ongoing conflict.   

Obtaining a Parental Order

Despite their extraordinary challenges, the family’s journey wasn’t over. Without a Parental Order, our clients wouldn’t be recognised as the child’s legal parents. 

Once the family had returned to the UK, we were consulted to assist in the Court process to obtain a Parental Order.

Our clients needed to demonstrate that their surrogate had provided free and informed consent to the Parental Order — which is a legal requirement but also an important part of the surrogacy process for our clients, who were immensely grateful to her.

We assisted with the application and helped to prepare their evidence. This wasn’t straightforward — by the time the case came before the Court, their surrogate had needed to take refuge outside of Ukraine. 

The case required meticulous analysis of the payments that were made to the surrogate to demonstrate that none had been of a nature that couldn’t be ratified by the Court. 

Love conquers all

We successfully secured a Parental Order for our clients and they’re now recognised as their child’s legal parents in the UK — the country that they’ve chosen as their home. 

The Court recognised the immense effort that our clients had made to start their family and unite with their child, describing the case as a “tsunami of love”.

While the stakes will always feel high in surrogacy cases where the legal status of a child is in question, this is particularly the case when a family has to traverse war zones to make it happen. 

Our team was pleased to support this family through the process, explaining the law and procedure while never losing sight of how important the outcome was for the parents.

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Please note that we've altered some details within this case study to respect our client’s confidentiality.