Couple Forced to Adopt Their Own Children After a Surrogate Pregnancy

A Michigan couple will have to adopt their twins in order obtain parental rights. Tammy and Jordan Myers used a surrogate to have the children. Two Michigan judges denied the couple parental rights because “Michigan Law does not automatically recognize babies born to surrogates as the legal children of their biological parents.”

The judges denied the couple parental rights despite affidavits provided by the fertility doctor and the surrogate and her husband that said the couple are the biological parents. 

The couple has started the adoption process and are hoping to obtain parental rights as soon as possible. 

According to Mr. Myers, “[b]eing forced to prove they are fit to adopt their own children is ‘offensive.'”

“Instead of looking forward to leaving the hospital with the twins, who were born eight weeks premature on Jan. 11, the couple must get reference letters to send to the state. Ms. Myers said they needed “temporary permission” from the surrogate, Lauren Vermilye, to bring the babies home.” 

Surrogacy laws vary from state-to-state, which can become confusing for couples looking into surrogacy. As Richard Vaughn, a founding partner of the International Fertility Law Group, put it, “[s]urrogacy laws are a state-by-state patchwork.” 

See Marie Cramer, Couple Forced to Adopt Their Own Children After a Surrogate Pregnancy, N.Y. Times, January 31, 2021. 

Special thanks to Lewis Saret (Attorney, Washington, D.C.) for bringing this article to my attention.