At BWF Solicitors, we understand that building a family can involve complex emotional, legal, immigration and cross-border issues.
Our Adoption and Surrogacy team provides sensitive, strategic and legally robust advice to intended parents, adoptive parents, surrogate mothers and families navigating both United Kingdom and Ghanaian legal systems.
We advise on domestic and international adoption, surrogacy arrangements, parental rights, nationality and immigration consequences, parental responsibility, registration of births, and British citizenship implications arising from assisted reproduction and family creation arrangements.
Our approach is professional, discreet and family-centred, whilst ensuring full compliance with the relevant legal and regulatory framework in both jurisdictions.
Adoption Services
We advise individuals, couples and families on a broad range of adoption matters, including:
- Domestic adoption applications
- International and inter-country adoption
- Relative and kinship adoption
- Step-parent adoption
- Adoption of children from Ghana into the United Kingdom
- Recognition of overseas adoption orders
- Special guardianship and parental responsibility issues
- British nationality and passport implications following adoption
- Immigration applications linked to adopted children
- Home Office and HM Passport Office representations
- Family court applications and representation
- Advice on safeguarding and welfare requirements
In the United Kingdom, adoption is governed principally by the Adoption and Children Act 2002. In Ghana, adoption is regulated under the Children’s Act 1998 (Act 560).
We regularly advise clients on the interaction between adoption law, immigration law and British nationality law, particularly where a child’s future residence, citizenship or passport status may depend upon the legal recognition of an adoption.
Surrogacy Services
Surrogacy arrangements frequently involve complex legal, medical, ethical and international considerations. Our solicitors provide strategic legal guidance from the beginning of the process through to post-birth legal recognition and immigration formalities.
Our services include:
- Advice for intended parents
- Advice for surrogate mothers
- Drafting and reviewing surrogacy agreements
- Cross-border surrogacy arrangements
- Ghana-UK surrogacy matters
- Legal parenthood and parental orders
- Birth registration advice
- Nationality and citizenship applications
- British passport applications for children born through surrogacy
- Immigration and entry clearance applications
- Advice on donor conception and assisted reproduction
- Family court applications
- Dispute resolution relating to surrogacy arrangements
Surrogacy Law in Ghana
Surrogacy is recognised under Ghanaian law through the Registration of Births and Deaths Act 2020 (Act 1027), which introduced a statutory framework for assisted reproductive births and surrogacy arrangements.
The legislation provides mechanisms through which intended parents may seek legal recognition and parental orders through the High Court in Ghana. The law contemplates both gestational and other assisted reproductive arrangements, although the legal framework continues to evolve through judicial interpretation and developing practice.
Cross-border surrogacy involving Ghana and the United Kingdom can raise highly technical issues concerning:
- Legal parenthood
- Recognition of parental status
- Immigration permission for the child
- British nationality by descent
- DNA evidence and parentage
- Passport applications
- Registration of births
- International travel documentation
Our firm has particular experience advising on Ghanaian surrogacy arrangements and the resulting British nationality and immigration implications.
UK Surrogacy Parental Orders
In the United Kingdom, surrogacy arrangements are governed by legislation including the Surrogacy Arrangements Act 1985 and the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990, together with subsequent amendments under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008.
UK law may require intended parents to obtain a parental order from the Family Court to secure full legal parenthood following the birth of a child through surrogacy. The legal position can become particularly complex where the child is born overseas or where one or both intended parents are British citizens.
We assist clients in navigating these issues carefully and efficiently, ensuring that the child’s welfare, immigration status and legal identity are properly protected.
Immigration & Nationality Issues
Our immigration and nationality team provides integrated advice where adoption or surrogacy arrangements involve:
- British citizenship applications
- British passport applications
- Entry clearance and visas
- Appendix FM applications
- Family reunion matters
- DNA evidence and paternity disputes
- HM Passport Office refusals
- Home Office challenges
- Judicial review and pre-action protocol correspondence
Cross-border family creation arrangements often involve overlapping legal systems. Early specialist legal advice is therefore essential.
Why Choose BWF Solicitors?
As a community-focused law firm with extensive experience in immigration, nationality and family law matters, we provide practical and compassionate legal support tailored to each family’s circumstances.
We understand the cultural, legal and procedural issues that frequently arise in Ghanaian and international family matters and are committed to guiding our clients through every stage of the process with clarity and professionalism.
Contact Us
To discuss an adoption or surrogacy matter in confidence, contact:
BWF Solicitors
020 8493 7340
Email: bowusu@bwfsolicitors.com
We offer consultations for clients in the United Kingdom, Ghana and internationally.