Intending Parents
Surrogacy: What Intending Parents Need to Know
Becoming the parent of a surrogate baby is every bit as exciting, nerve-wracking and exhilarating as becoming a biological parent. With the changes in South Africa’s surrogacy laws after the promulgation of the Children’s Act 38 of 2005 on 1 April 2010, there is certain information that intending parents need to know before they begin the surrogacy process.
Firstly, each party involved in the surrogate arrangement has to enter into a written surrogacy agreement, to be signed by all involved. Not only do both of the intending parents need to sign this agreement, but also the surrogate mother and her partner. Additionally, it must be proven that at least one of the intending parents and both of the surrogate parents are legally resident in South Africa. This agreement needs to be approved by the High Court of South Africa before the in-vitro process may commence.
Another very important provision of the new surrogacy laws is that the conception of the child should be effected via the use of the gametes – reproductive cells – of at least one of the commissioning parents.
To the delight of many intending parents, it is no longer necessary to undertake the legal adoption process after the child has been born. As long as there is a valid surrogacy agreement in place, the new parents can rest assured that from the moment that the child is born, it is legally theirs and their names may be filled in on the birth certificate.
Intending parents should ensure that their surrogacy agreement is drawn up by specialists in the field. Contact Adele van der Walt Attorneys for relevant, helpful advice and assistance on surrogacy issues in South Africa.
For more information on this subject, please give us a call at (SA) or e-mail us at susann@avdw.co.za
