Ms Meredith Baldwin:

As I was born with the support of COTS, which is, like I said, an organisation in England set up to provide this kind of bonding between intended parents and the surrogate, there is a massive network of support there. Although COTS is not a huge organisation, support is always available. From my childhood, when I was quite a bit younger, we would go to the AGM of COTS and I was able to mix with children born through surrogacy. Two of my best friends are surrogates; they are twins. They are actually Kim Cotton's twins. They have been in my life forever, so I have always had people close to me who I have been able to talk to about my journey and about their journey. That has continued to now. They now live on the other side of the world in New Zealand, unfortunately, but that support network is always there. That is why it is important to have the right channels to go through so one does not feel like one is going it alone, whether that is from the child's perspective, the surrogate's perspective or that of the intended parents, there is a whole load of support out there. It is not just through COTS but that has been my experience with it. It has provided so much support. Even now in my 30s I still like to talk about it. I still have questions. I think I always will. I have been very lucky in that respect that there has been something available for me throughout my life.