SURROGACY ACT 2008 - SECT 21

SURROGACY ACT 2008 - SECT 21

21 .         Court may make parentage order

        (1)         The court may, on an application made under section 20(1), make a parentage order.

        (2)         Before it makes a parentage order the court has to be satisfied that —

            (a)         the circumstances that section 19 requires for applying for a parentage order exist; and

            (b)         except to the extent that subsection (3) authorises the court to dispense with the requirement for a birth parent to have received the counselling, the child’s birth parents and the arranged parents have received appropriate counselling about the effect of the proposed order; and

            (c)         except to the extent that subsection (3) authorises the court to dispense with the requirement for a birth parent to have received the advice, the child’s birth parents and the arranged parents have received independent legal advice about the effect of the proposed order; and

            (d)         except to the extent that subsection (3) authorises the court to dispense with the requirement for a birth parent’s consent, the child’s birth parents freely consent to the making of the order; and

            (e)         except in circumstances identified in subsection (4), the child was, when the application for the order was lodged with the court, and is, when the court makes the proposed order, in the day to day care of the arranged parents; and

            (f)         except to the extent that subsection (3) authorises the court to dispense with the requirement for a birth parent to have agreed, the child’s birth parents and the arranged parents have agreed in writing to an appropriate plan (the approved plan ) in accordance with section 22; and

            (g)         it is in the best interests of the child for the court to make the proposed order.

        (3)         In circumstances identified in subsection (4) or if the court is satisfied that a birth parent is deceased or incapacitated or that the arranged parents have been unable to contact a birth parent despite having made reasonable efforts to do so, the court may dispense with —

            (a)         the requirement for the birth parent to have received counselling as described in subsection (2)(b); or

            (b)         the requirement for the birth parent to have received independent legal advice as described in subsection (2)(c); or

            (c)         the requirement for the birth parent to consent under subsection (2)(d) to the making of a parentage order; or

            (d)         the requirement for the birth parent to have agreed to an appropriate plan as described in subsection (2)(f).

        (4)         The circumstances this subsection identifies are that —

            (a)         the birth mother is not the child’s genetic parent; and

            (b)         at least one arranged parent is the child’s genetic parent.

        (5)         In subsection (4) —

        genetic parent of a child means a person from whose egg or sperm the child is conceived.