Ms Natalie Gamble:

There are two of the criteria where parental orders have been refused. One is consent, and the other is domicile. The court has to have the jurisdiction. The parents have to have enough connection with the UK. I think there have been two cases where orders have been refused because parents did not meet that criterion. The court has then gone on to consider what else it can do instead. It does not mean it is necessarily the end of the road. In terms of consent, there has been a key case in the UK, which I am sure Dr. Horsey is alluding to, where a surrogate gave birth, gave the baby to the intended parents, but then there was a disagreement and she spitefully refused consent to the parental order not because she wanted to care for the child, but just because she was being very difficult. The judge essentially said that the law bound their hands and they wanted to make a parental order but could not do it. As a result of that case, one of the recommendations in the Law Commission's proposals is that going forward, the court should be able to waive the requirement for consent if it is in the child's best interests. In the future, if that situation were to arise again, the court would be able to make a parental order in those circumstances.