‘I recorded our surrogacy journey to help others’

A couple said that they decided to document their journey for a child through a surrogate after “no information” was available about the process.

Her husband Michael, a 38-year-old husband of Kevin Pitaka-Bennett, 46, and Chelmsford, through surrogacy in 2024, when a woman bears pregnancy for another couple or person.

Commercial surrogacy is illegal in the UK and cannot benefit from matching a third party with people, but it is not illegal to pay for surrogate.

Mr. Pitaka-Bennett, who works in the advertisement, made videos in the entire process with Michael, who is a hairstylist to help others navigate surrogacy with “less complications”.

“This is a humble process,” Mr. Pitaka-Sonnet said, “There are all kinds of feelings for which we were not ready.”

Since 1985, there have been surrogacy laws in Britain.

The law states that a surrogate is considered a legal mother when a child is born – despite genetics or any agreement.

A parent should be ordered to transfer the legal parentage to the intended or biological parents.

Parents’ orders in England and Wales increased from 117 in 2011 to 413 in 2020.

Statistics shown in 2021 Two-thirds of the applicants for parents’ orders are now mixed-sex pairs which are often in their 30s or 40s.

Kevin and Michael began the process of having a family through surrogacy in 2021, but quickly felt that there is a lack of information available.

Sarah Jones, Chief Executive Officer of Surrogacy UK said: “The UK surrogacy community in the UK is actually unique in the fact that we are philanthropically operated, so no one is allowed to make a profit, no one is allowed to anyone Financial benefits are not allowed.

Kevin and Michael said that they were in touch with their surrogate two months after their daughter’s birth.

Mr. Pitaka-Sonnet said: “The entire ethos of surrogacy is the first friendship. She is going to be a part of our life forever. She is definitely a special aunt. We feel that we are bonded for life.

“You have found an element of guilt because someone is doing this for you and does not have them. Then you are worried because they are ill and the potential child can be unwell,” said Mr. Pitaka-Sonnet.

“I buried my head in the sand because we could only deal with this much. When we were not talking to our beloved surrogate, we were doing life normally.

“We learned that you do not have much control over this process. Shakti is with surrogate and you hope they choose you.

“You have to keep yourself there and be attractive to women who want to do this amazing work for you.

“Of course they should have power, this is their body.”

Mr. Pitaka-Bennett documented the couple’s journey on YouTube to provide information for others.

“I am not a professional specialist, but I lived and done it.

“Hopefully it will help the same-sex and direct joints to detect rules and navigate the process.”

Ms. Jones said: “The laws around surrogacy are really straight, it is really difficult to find that information because I think everything is towards American surrogacy and commercial models.

“In fact, there is a rich Britain surrogacy community and there are various methods that you can interact with the community.”

The founder of the campaign group Helen Gibson, Surrogacy Consorn said: “We do not support surrogacy for anyone, we understand that many people want a genetic child of themselves, but it is very exploitative for women.

“No one sees it from the child’s point of view” who needs his biological mother when born for the first time, she said.

“Fostering, adoption and co-ablation are all options before surrogacy.”