Whose name is on the birth certificate of a child born from a surrogate?

Learn the answer to this week's user-submitted question about surrogacy in this week's installment of Ask a Surrogacy Expert! Have a question about surrogacy that you'd like answered? Submit it at https://www.brightfuturesfamilies.com/ask

The law allows for pre-birth orders to establish legal parentage during a surrogacy journey. Intended parents’ names appear on birth certificates via pre-birth parentage orders, not the surrogate's. Keep in mind that surrogacy laws vary by state; some require both pre and post-birth orders. Bright Futures Families surrogacy only works with surrogates in legal surrogacy states (surrogacy-friendly states) to reduce risks. Clear communication on pre-birth orders and legal rights helps clients understand the surrogacy process. Careful selection of gestational carriers reduces legal uncertainties, streamlining parentage orders and minimizing stress for intended parents and gestational carriers.

Want to Learn More about our Process?

Transcript:

Hi, this is Danielle Gage, Case Manager at Bright Futures Families Surrogacy and I'm here with today's Ask Question. The question is "Whose name is on the birth certificate of a child born from a surrogate?" Great question. I think there's a lot of misconceptions regarding this. If a child is born through gestational surrogacy, the intended parents names are placed on the birth certificate and never the surrogate's name. And this possible because the law allows for a pre birth parentage order which is a court order that is obtained under the state's surrogacy statutes that makes the intended parents the child's legal parents before birth so that their names appear on the birth certificate when it issued. This pre birth order is completed in the state that the baby will be born, which is typically the state which the surrogate lives. There are states where pre and post birth orders need to be completed or just a post birth order. In some states and in rare cases, depending on the state's laws, adoption may be required. There are also states where surrogacy is not legal and parentage can't be granted at all. So please check with an Assisted Reproductive Technology attorney in the state where your child will be born for the legal implications regarding parentage there. Here at Bright Futures Families Surrogacy we only accept surrogates who live in a state where surrogacy is legal and a pre birth order process is utilized. Thank you for your question, and if you have any more questions we would love to hear them. Just go to www.brightff.com to contact us to send in your question.