Donor Conception & Co-parenting

Parental responsibility gives someone the authority to make decisions on a child’s behalf. This includes general day-to-day decisions relating to the child’s care, and also important choices relating to their schooling, medical treatment and their upbringing in general.

The birth mother always has parental responsibility, and fathers will have parental responsibility if they are married to the birth mother at the time the child is born, or if they are registered on the child’s birth certificate.

For same-sex female couples conceiving with a donor, the non-birth mother will have parental responsibility if she is married or in a civil partnership with the birth mother at the time of conception. If the couple are not married or in a civil partnership, the non-birth mother will have parental responsibility if the child is conceived at a clinic, the correct forms have been signed enabling her to be a legal parent and she is registered on the child’s birth certificate.

For children born through surrogacy, both parents will acquire parental responsibility once a parental order has been granted.

As the birth mother, you will always be your child’s legal mother. The identity of the father or second legal parent depends on your marital status and the circumstances of conception. This is a complex area and it is always a good idea to seek legal advice before you conceive to ensure you understand who your child’s other legal parent will be, and what rights (if any) they will have.

Whether or not a donor is a child’s legal parent depends on the particular circumstances of the donation arrangement.

A donor who registers at a licenced clinic in the UK for their sperm to be donated to an unknown couple or individual will not be the child’s legal father and won’t have parental rights.

The situation is a little more complex if the donor knows the person or couple they are donating to. Whether or not the donor has any parental rights in this situation will depend on the marital status of the intended parents, and the place and method of conception.

Since the law changed in 2005, it’s no longer possible to register with a licenced UK clinic as an anonymous sperm or egg donor. Now any child who is donor conceived at a licenced UK clinic will be entitled to identifying information about their donor when they reach 18 (including their donor’s name, date of birth and last known address). At 16, they are entitled to some limited information about their donor (such as a physical description, their year of birth and their medical history).

Useful websites:

hfea.gov.uk

ngdt.co.uk

dcnetwork.org

A pre-conception agreement is a written document which you can prepare with your donor/co-parent before you conceive. The purpose of this document is to help you with your discussions, and to encourage you all to think and talk about practical and sensitive issues at the outset before you conceive a child. The document should reflect the agreements you reach about your plans, and you should complete it together with your donor or co-parent.

Preconception agreements are not legally binding, but we encourage people who are planning to conceive to have one in place, as experience shows that setting up arrangements with careful thought and planning is the best way to avoid problems in the future.