Parentage in Connecticut may be determined through entering into a gestational agreement with a gestational surrogate. See Conn. Gen. St. Rev. § 7-36 (13). A gestational agreement is defined as being a written agreement for assisted reproduction in which a woman agrees to carry a child to birth for an intended parent or intended parents, which woman contributed no genetic material to the child and which agreement (A) names each party to the agreement and indicates each party’s respective obligations under the agreement, (B) is signed by each party to the agreement and the spouse of each such party, if any, and (C) is witnessed by at least two disinterested adults and acknowledged in the manner prescribed by law. See Conn. Gen. St. Rev. § 7-36 (16). An Intended Parent is defined as being a party to a gestational agreement who agrees, under the gestational agreement, to be the parent of a child born to a woman by means of assisted reproduction, regardless of whether the party has a genetic relationship to the child. See Conn. Gen. St. Rev. § 7-36 (17).
In Connecticut, Conn.Gen.Stat.§7-48a, relevant to Vital Statistics and the creation of birth records for a child, addresses gestational surrogacy and provides for the creation of a replacement birth certificate for a child born through surrogacy in cases where the Superior Court enters an order of parentage for parties to a valid gestational carrier agreement. In 2011, the Connecticut Supreme Judicial Court decided Raftopol v. Ramey, 12 A.3d 783, 299 Conn. 681 (2011), which established that Vital Records be required to name as parent(s) on a birth certificate the individual(s) determined to be the legal parents of a child born through a gestational surrogate on a court parentage order, whether the parent is genetically related to the child or not – whether the parent(s) used donor egg, donor sperm or donor embryos. It is important to note that in Connecticut, a court hearing will be required to obtain a pre-birth order at which all parties – parents and carrier and carrier’s spouse included – must (absent extenuating circumstances) attend.
There is no existing statute or case law in Connecticut that prohibits traditional (genetic) surrogacy, and therefore parties may enter into such arrangements in Connecticut.. Unlike with gestational surrogacy, however, a pre-birth order cannot be obtained in a traditional surrogacy. In Connecticut, a biological father may acknowledge paternity at the time of birth in order to establish his legal parentage and have his name recorded on the birth certificate. See Con Gen. Stat. § 46b-172. There are procedures established in the Connecticut Probate Courts to terminate parental rights of a parent post-birth. See Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-715. Provided it is executed at least forty-eight (48) hours post birth, a traditional surrogate may sign a voluntary surrender of her parental rights. Finally, to remove the surrogate’s name from the birth certificate and to establish the legal parental rights of the second, non-biological parent, a post birth step-parent adoption petition must be filed.