UK

Stonewall - a major GLBT non-profit in the UK - has worked with Gamble and Ghevaert law firm to produce a guide to new laws on gay and lesbian parenting, called Parenthood for Same-Sex Couples.

The guide aims to provide information to service providers about the law on same-sex conception and parenting, including donor insemination [and the new legal rights for lesbian couples to be named on birth certificates], co-parenting arrangements, and international surrogacy for gay men.

The UK is launching a nationwide campaign aimed to help several thousand children who need adopted.

The campaign coincides with the launch of National Adoption Week – organized by the British Association for Adoption and Fostering.

Families are needed for up to 4,000 children throughout the nation waiting for loving and permanent homes.

Times Online offers a glimpse into one story of adoption in the United Kingdom, by interviewing new father - Phil Reay-Smith [pictured]:

The Argus reports that a sister has acted as a surrogate to help her brother and his partner [pictured], who are both policemen, become fathers.

Mother-of-three Lorna Bradley, 31, volunteered to have their baby when her brother Steven Ponder, 28, revealed a desire to start a family with Ivan Sigston, 48.

Both men were present when Mrs. Bradley gave birth to William Campbell Ponder-Sigston at her home last month.

An April 6th post at Lesbilicious explores the U.K.'s new Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008. Milly Shaw spoke to three lesbian families to find out how it might affect them.

Fertility clinics must now take into account ‘the welfare of the child’ when providing treatment, rather than ‘the need for a father’. The new legislation is considered a major victory for gay rights.

Lesbian couples who have children through IVF will be able to name their partner as the second parent, under a law coming into force next month.

Under present legislation, the husband in a married couple using IVF is automatically added to the birth certificate. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 will extend the same right to lesbian couples undertaking fertility treatment, while single women will also be allowed to nominate their child's other parent.

According to BBC News, The LA Fertility Institutes expects a trait-selected baby to be born next year. The clinic also offers sex selection.