We hosted a free online event on Surrogacy in the US for single people, on 24th Feb 22

Brilliant Beginnings and NGA Law have supported single people on their US surrogacy journeys for a number of years, even before UK law changed to allow single parents to apply for a parental order.

We were delighted to be talking with single dad, Simon Burrell, who welcomed his son in 2019 thanks to the help of his wonderful US surrogate, alongside his US surrogacy agency and clinic.

We shared our experience and knowledge alongside Simon who will be sharing his journey from his decision to forge ahead with surrogacy, right up until his son was placed in his arms.

“I’m his daddy. It’s real. This is how we’re going to be now, until he leaves home. That’s when it finally dawned on me.” – Simon 

Watch the event recording

Event details

Where: Online, via Zoom

When: Thursday 24th February 2022, from 4pm – 5pm

Cost: Free

Our speakers

Simon Burrell, dad through surrogacy in the US

Simon is an educational manager who lives in Brighton. Simon’s son William was born in 2019 with the help of a US surrogate. Brilliant Beginnings introduced Simon to his US agency clinic and attorney, and after waiting to be matched he was presented with a profile of a surrogate who he felt an instant connection with. They were introduced soon after and begin their incredible journey together. Simon and his surrogate Patricia are still friends today and will forever share a unique bond.

Helen Prosser, Brilliant Beginnings

Caring, energetic and creative, Helen has worked professionally in the field of fertility, donation and surrogacy for a decade. She is a member of the HFEA’s National Donation Strategy Group (an advisory committee of national egg/sperm donation experts hand-picked by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority), one of the few international members of the American Bar Association’s Assisted Reproduction and Technology Committee, and a former trustee of the National Gamete Donation Trust.

As a director of the UK’s leading fertility law firm, she has long experience managing professional services for families created through assisted reproduction, as well as supporting campaigning and policy work on surrogacy and donation. Helen is a CEDR accredited mediator. She has participated in leading international conferences on surrogacy and has an extensive network of contacts with agencies, medics and lawyers, in the UK and internationally. She has two grown-up boys.

Natalie Gamble, NGA Law

Natalie is known internationally, not only as the UK’s leading fertility lawyer but also for her gentle tenacity which has enabled much needed change in the UK legal system. Having built her own donor-conceived family in 2001, Natalie was the first solicitor to pioneer fertility law in the UK and believes passionately that families thrive with love, honesty and confidence, no matter what their structure or how they were made.

Natalie has been named in the Independent on Sunday’s Pink List as one of the UK’s 100 most influential gay people, named as the Times Lawyer of the Week, and nominated for Stonewall’s Hero of the Year Award for her defence of same-sex parents. She is listed by Legal 500 in their elite list of lawyers who are leaders in their field and ranked as a Band 1 leading lawyer by Chambers. She was also one of the first international fellows to be admitted to the US-based Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys, and she is the Chair of the UK and Ireland LGBT Family Law Institute. In 2010 her work was recognised with an invitation to meet the Prime Minister at a 10 Downing Street reception.

Natalie is often interviewed by the BBC and in the national press, and is a regular voice on the BBC Radio 4 Today Programme and Woman’s Hour.