Mr. Richard Vaughn:

I echo the sentiment raised by Ms Wasser in her quote. That is a pervading principle throughout the US when it comes to surrogacy. I will answer the direct question. We were declared the parents in a pre-birth order before the birth and there was no uncertainty as to who the legal parents of our children were from the moment of birth, including financial responsibility and physical custody. Most of the states in the US would take the same approach. However, in the handful of states that require or only allow a post-birth order, the parents are granted a guardianship, which helps to bridge the gap between the time of birth and the issuance of the post-birth order and through that guardianship they are allowed to make decisions, care for the child, take physical custody, etc.