New proposals concerning surrogacy in the Netherlands could mean up to four “parents” would have legal rights to one child [1].
The Country’s ruling coalition parties have proposed that the government should provide certain protections in gestational surrogacy arrangements and, separately, should provide some recognition of rights for non-biological parents, leading to a multiplicity of “parents”.
The Netherlands wouldn’t be the first governmental entity to recognize certain parental rights for up to four people. For instance, Ontario, Canada, passed a parentage law in 2016 that allows for up to four parents to a child. And based on one reading of recent New York State case law, the Empire State arguably permits up to six parents to a single child. The proposed legal changes in the Netherlands are intended to address current problems whereby step-parents, foster parents, and other non-biologically related persons acting as parents, nevertheless have no rights to a child.