Until 3 January 2019 a single person could not apply for a Parental Order at all. The law required two applicants, and a single intended parent raising a child born through surrogacy was left as that child's biological parent but not, in UK law, their legal one. The High Court declared that incompatible with the Human Rights Act in 2016, and Parliament fixed it with a remedial order that added section 54A to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008.
So the route now exists. It mirrors the couples' route closely — with one difference that is stricter, and a handful of practical points that single applicants are more exposed to. This page covers the differences. For the process itself, how to apply for a Parental Order applies to you exactly as it does to a couple. Guidance only, not legal advice.
The one condition that is stricter for you
Under section 54, a couple needs at least one of them to be genetically related to the child. If one partner's gametes were used, the other's need not have been.
Under section 54A there is nobody to share that condition with. You must be the genetic parent yourself — your own egg or sperm must have been used to create the embryo. A child conceived with donor egg and donor sperm cannot be the subject of a single-applicant Parental Order, however the arrangement came about and however long the child has lived with you.
That is not a technicality you can argue around. It is the threshold condition, and if it is not met the court cannot make the order. For those cases the route to legal parenthood is adoption, not a Parental Order — and that is worth knowing before you choose a clinic or an arrangement, not after the birth.
What is the same
Everything else in section 54A tracks section 54:
- The application must be made within six months of the birth. The same deadline, the same unforgiving rule, the same case law softening it at the margins.
- The child's home must be with you at the time of the application and of the order.
- You must be domiciled in the UK, Channel Islands or Isle of Man. Domicile, not residence.
- You must be 18 or over.
- The surrogate must consent freely and unconditionally, and her consent is ineffective if given less than six weeks after the birth — on Form A101A, exactly as for couples. If she is married or in a civil partnership, her spouse's consent is normally needed too.
- No more than reasonable expenses may have been paid, unless the court authorises more.
- The child's welfare throughout their life is the court's paramount consideration.
The forms are the same forms. You complete C51 as a sole applicant, serve the same respondents, and go through the same Cafcass parental order reporter process and the same two hearings.
Where single applicants get caught out
Choosing an arrangement that cannot lead to an order. The genetic condition is the big one. If you are using both a donor egg and donor sperm — common where a single man uses a donor egg with his own sperm (fine) but also where, for medical reasons, neither gamete is yours (not fine) — you need to know which side of the line you are on before conception.
Assuming a partner's gametes count. They do not. A single applicant cannot rely on a genetic link through anyone else. If you are in a relationship but applying alone — because your partner is not eligible, or because you have separated — the genetic link must be yours.
The "single" question itself. Section 54A is available regardless of your relationship status. You do not have to prove you are single. But if you are in an enduring family relationship with someone who is also the genetic parent, the couples' route under section 54 is normally the right one, and applying alone can raise a question the court will want answered.
Being asked for more. In practice the Cafcass reporter and the court will look carefully at your support network and your plans, as they would for any single parent. That is not suspicion; it is the welfare assessment doing its job. It goes better when your witness statement addresses it directly rather than waiting to be asked.
Nationality. If your child was born abroad, the citizenship rules apply to you with one fewer escape route: there is no second parent whose nationality might help. Whether you are British by descent or otherwise than by descent matters more, not less.
Before 2019: the transitional cases
The remedial order included a six-month window for people whose child was born before it came into force, so that single parents who had been shut out could apply late. That window closed in mid-2019. If you are in that position and never applied, the general late-application principles apply — the deadline is not an absolute bar where the child's welfare demands an order — but it is specialist territory and you should get advice.
The honest summary
For a single genetic parent, the Parental Order route is now as open and as well-trodden as it is for couples, and the process is identical. The single thing to establish before you do anything else is that the genetic link is yours. Get that right and a straightforward case is a straightforward case; get it wrong and no amount of preparation can produce an order the statute does not allow.
The free two-minute check asks about your genetic link, your birth country and your stage, and tells you whether your case looks straightforward — no email needed to see the result. PO Navigator then tracks your six-month deadline and walks you through C51, C52 and A101A as a sole applicant.
See also: Parental Order or adoption? · eligibility: the conditions, checked · how to apply · all guides
Sources: HFEA 2008 s.54A, inserted by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 (Remedial) Order 2018, in force 3 January 2019; House of Commons Library briefing CBP-8076. Positions stated here are as at September 2026. General information about the law of England and Wales, not legal advice.