A petition calling for intended parents in surrogacy arrangements to be recognised as their child’s legal parents from birth has been signed by more than 110,000 people – meaning it will be considered for a debate in Parliament.
Adam Frisby created the petition almost two years after he and his husband, Jamie Corbett, welcomed their baby daughter, Leven, via surrogacy in the US.
The petition calls for families who have children via a surrogate “not to have to go through months of court proceedings and social worker visits to be recognised as the parents of a child they planned and love.”
Upon returning to the UK, Frisby and Corbett found that their child’s surrogate, Krista, was her legal parent under British law.
This is despite both fathers having been named on their daughter’s birth certificate in the US, and there being no genetic relationship between Leven and the woman who gave birth to her.
“When our daughter was born through surrogacy, we became dads the moment we held her. But under current law, the surrogate is automatically recognised as the legal mother (and if she is married, her spouse is recorded as the legal father) even with no biological connection or intention to parent the child,” Frisby wrote on the petition page.
“Intended parents must then go through a lengthy court process to become their child’s legal parents. In 2026 we believe this is outdated. The law needs to recognise intended parents from birth.”
Sarah Dodds, senior associate in the family team at Birketts LLP, said: “Three years after the Law Commission recommended reform but with no appetite within government to take it forwards, it’s exciting to see UK surrogacy laws being discussed and debated at the highest level.
“The Law Commission report recommended a pathway that allows intended parents to become their child’s legal parents from birth, which could have alleviated the issues faced by Adam Frisby, Jamie Corbett and their daughter Leven. Hopefully there can be a sensible, pragmatic debate about this important area and progress can be made on reform. It will be interesting to hear parliament’s view [if the debate goes ahead].”
Any UK and Parliament Petition which gains more than 100,000 signatures will be considered by the Petitions Committee for a debate in Parliament. Frisby’s petition launched less than a month ago and has already surpassed 100,000 five months ahead of the deadline.
Frisby told the BBC: “The minute we found this out [the had to apply to become Leven’s legal parents under UK law], we knew we were going to try and push for change because this was crazy. It is quite a long process. Don’t get me wrong, we’d do it 100 times over. It’s a small price to pay to have Leven.
“But it is just so outdated and crazy and it’s taken a little bit of a mental toll on me and Jamie at times. We’ve been in tears about it when we’ve been questioned in the doctors or when we tried to look at nurseries and they were asking about legal parents and it’s like ‘this is our daughter’.”
