MUM’S REFUSAL TO GIVE UP BABIES Our £26k legal battle to win the custody of surrogate twin girls
I couldn’t believe it.” Steve received a text from the surrogate.
“It said until the expenses issue was settled, she wouldn’t consent to parental rights. We were devastated.”
She registered the girls’ births and changed their names – including the middle names their dads had picked in tribute to their own mums.
Even though Steve was the biological father, under current law he and Marc had no legal rights to the children until the Parental Order was signed. The couple hired a lawyer and scrabbled to secure £26,000 in loans from friends and family to pay fees.
CRYING
“We’d paid our life savings to our surrogate but I didn’t care if we lost our house or were bankrupt, I was determined our girls would come home with us,” Steve says.
The couple’s lawyer, Beverley Jones of JMW Solicitors, secured an emergency family court hearing within days of the hospital drama in October.
The twins were made wards of court and a children’s guardian assigned. Both the couple and the surrogate were granted hospital visiting rights. Meanwhile, bewildered son Spencer, then four, was suffering from what had happened.
“I picked him up from school one day and he saw I was upset,” says Marc. “He asked if our surrogate was trying to take his sisters away. It was heartbreaking.”
After a three-month legal battle which involved Steven having a DNA test, the surrogate agreed parental consent at a High Court hearing in November. Now Autumn and Aria are at home for good.
Steve says: “Over the years, we’ve forged amazing links with the surrogate community. Without these typically selfless women, we wouldn’t have children. Most surrogates wouldn’t dream of behaving this way.
“I also feel sad our girls won’t have a relationship with their other genetic half as Spencer continues to have.”
Now Steve and Marc want better laws so others can avoid their plight.
Their solicitor Beverley Jones said: “These sorts of cases are very rare, but surrogacy agreements are not legally binding in the UK at the moment. Here, everyone is working on trust.”
DAD STEVE ON BOMBSHELL AFTER BIRTH OF TWINS
■■To support Steve’s campaign visit gofundme.com and search ‘Steve Winchester surrogate’.