Pauline appeared for the Local Authority in Re J (A child) (Surrogacy: Adoption Order), a High Court case concerning the long-term welfare of a child born via informal surrogacy who ended up being adopted by her intended parents.
The applicants are Mr and Mrs P. Mr and Mrs P met in 2015 and began to cohabit in 2017. The child in question (J) was born in February 2023 via an informal surrogacy arrangement with Ms T, who they met through a Facebook group. Mr P was named as the father on the birth certificate and both applicants applied for a Parental Order in May 2023. It was later suggested that J was not biologically related to Mr P. The applicants only carried out a non-court approved “Peace of Mind” DNA test where samples are taken at home with no independent oversight. It was later accepted that rather than taking a sample from the child, the father’s own mother had given her own sample which falsely suggested a biological connection between Mr P and J, an essential requirement in an application for a parental order.
The case called into question whether Ms T had sexual intercourse with an unnamed man during the insemination process and also whether the samples supplied by Mr P were in fact his. Ms T when cross-examined by Pauline for the local authority, stated that she did not know who the father was.
The case, heard by Ms Justice Henke, involved serious concerns about the child’s identity, including falsified DNA evidence, disputed paternity, and the misuse of “Peace of Mind” DNA tests that are not to be used in court proceedings. The Court conducted a thorough fact-finding exercise, including allegations of deception and procedural irregularities in the surrogacy arrangement. The judgment stated that it “should be read as a cautionary tale of what can go wrong when strangers who meet through social media to bring a child into this world through surrogacy and when one or more of the parties take risks around the circumstances of conception.”
The full judgment is available here.
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