Surrogate parents are just as loving

Babies who are born to a surrogate mother and then handed over to another family are well cared for and may receive more emotional warmth than children who are naturally conceived, experts said today.

In the first international study of surrogacy arrangements, psychologists found the child appears to benefit rather than suffer when brought up by parents who have "commissioned" him or her.

It contradicts previous reports that the recipient parents find it hard to bond with a child who is not genetically theirs, as well as showing little evidence that surrogate mothers have last-minute qualms about handing over the baby.

London researchers looked at 43 families where the child was born with a surrogacy arrangement, and compared them with 51 families who had children conceived through IVF with donated eggs, and with 86 families who had a naturally conceived child.

Of the 43 surrogate families, 90 per cent of mothers who had " commissioned" a baby reported they had a very good relationship with the surrogate mother. And there was only one instance of the surrogate mother having doubts about handing over the baby.

Details of the study emerged at a conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology.

Fiona MacCallum, researcher at the Family and Child Psychology Research Centre at City University, told it mothers and fathers from surrogate arrangements actually had better parenting skills than those from other families.

She found that when it came to measuring emotional warmth, involvement and parenting skills, the surrogacy and IVF families scored higher than the families whose child was naturally conceived.

But the study also found that parents may dote too much on their child, possibly storing up problems for future years. Researchers hope to follow through the families, to see how the relationships develop as the children grow up.

Miss MacCallum said: "These results are generally positive. The surrogacy families seem to be characterised by warm relationships and high quality of parenting. The high emotional involvement of these mothers with their children can also be positive, although it is possible that it reflects some tendency towards over-investment in the child."

As for the children themselves, researchers found that there was no significant difference between the temperaments of the offspring from the three different groups, when they were measured for their ability to adapt to new situations, their fussiness or moodiness, or the predictability of their reactions.

However the child was conceived, the mother's sensitivity to the child did not differ much. Miss MacCallum concludes: "There is no evidence so far to support the concerns that have been voiced about the practice of surrogacy."

However, she adds a warning note: "These children were still in infancy [when studied] and it remains to be seen how these families will change as the children grow up."

Surrogacy is permitted in Britain if there is consent between both parties, and payments are not exchanged for a child. However, expenses can be paid to surrogate mothers.

The main surrogacy organisation, Cots, has arranged 415 births so far in the UK, and maintains that they lead to loving relationships between parents and child, and that parents keep in touch with the surrogate mother.

However Nuala Scarisbrick, from the campaigning charity Life, said surrogacy was "unethical".

"Despite this study, there have been many reports of sordid rows between surrogate parents and commissioning couples falling out with each other, or going back on a deal," she added.

One woman who had twins after entering into a surrogacy agreement with an American couple is now fighting in the US courts to keep them.