Kaspar was conceived through IVF using a donor woman's egg. The embryo was then implanted into a surrogate, who gave birth to him. Photo / 123RF
An adoption order has been approved for a little boy with three mothers.
The adoptive mother of the boy, known as Kaspar, is a woman who is unable to have children.
Kaspar’s birth mother is the surrogate mum who carried him in her womb.
Kaspar’s biological mother is an anonymous woman who donated her egg for in-vitro fertilisation.
“Increasingly, this way of being born is becoming common,” Family Court Judge Alayne Wills said in granting the adoption order.
“It will not be unusual for Kaspar, by the age of 12, to be one of a number of children in the same situation.”
Kaspar’s birth story has been recorded in a decision by Judge Wills handed down in 2021 but which has only just been published on a court website.
Under Family Court rules, the people involved cannot be identified, but the court has given them fictitious names for the purposes of publication.
The adoption order was sought by Giselle and Jon Meyer, who brought Kaspar home from hospital when he was four days old.
Jon Meyer is Kaspar’s biological father. Giselle and Jon Meyer are unable to have children of their own together.
A long-standing friend of Jon Meyer, Abigail Lint, offered to be a surrogate mother for the couple.
“That is a gift given to the parents by her,” Judge Wills said.
The surrogate pregnancy was made possible by in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) through Fertility Associates and was approved by the Ethics Committee on Assisted Reproductive Technology, which is appointed by the Minister of Health.
It also required approval from Oranga Tamariki, and a social worker gave the green light for Kaspar to be placed into the Meyers’ care.
The egg used in the IVF process was donated by a woman who wished only to be known as Esme.
Judge Wills said that not knowing his biological mother was “probably not ideal” for Kaspar, but that issue could not be addressed without Esme’s consent.
The adoption order was made when Kaspar was 14 months old.
“He knows no other parents and he is progressing absolutely as he should be,” the judge said.
She said the social worker’s report supported the adoption order and she was “entirely satisfied” that the Meyers were fit and proper people to be the adoptive parents.
Under current law, a surrogate mother and her partner, if any, are the legal parents of a child. Under the Adoption Act 1955, the intending parents must legally adopt the child before they are recorded as the parents.
Since 1977, more than 3000 babies conceived from donated sperm or eggs have been born. There are about 1300 recorded egg donors and 1800 sperm donors.
Last year, the Government estimated that about 50 babies each year are born through a surrogacy arrangement.
The 19-year-old disappeared without her wallet or mobile phone.