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Back The Dead Line Save as PDF
Chapters (87)
  1. Cover
  2. By the Same Author
  3. Dedication Page
  4. 1
  5. 2
  6. 3
  7. 4
  8. 5
  9. 6
  10. 7
  11. 8
  12. 9
  13. 10
  14. 11
  15. 12
  16. 13
  17. 14
  18. 15
  19. 16
  20. 17
  21. 18
  22. 19
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  26. 23
  27. 24
  28. 25
  29. 26
  30. 27
  31. 28
  32. 29
  33. 30
  34. 31
  35. 32
  36. 33
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  38. 35
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  40. 37
  41. 38
  42. 39
  43. 40
  44. 41
  45. 42
  46. 43
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  48. 45
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  50. 47
  51. 48
  52. 49
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  54. 51
  55. 52
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  60. 57
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  68. 65
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  70. 67
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  74. 71
  75. 72
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  80. 77
  81. 78
  82. 79
  83. 80
  84. 81
  85. Acknowledgements
  86. Also Available by Holly Watt
  87. The Hunt and the Kill

I’ve heard quotes of £50,000 just for the legal side, and that’s before you even start paying the surrogate or any of the medical costs. On top of that, British couples are meant to ensure that their international surrogacy agreement complies with UK law. Clearly, because of the big payments made to US surrogates, that isn’t the case. So it’s a grey area, and potentially vulnerable.’

‘And, say, the Ukraine?’

‘That depends. In most countries, the baby doesn’t get automatic citizenship. So a baby born to a surrogate doesn’t get Ukrainian citizenship. If the father is British, and the surrogate isn’t married, you have to apply for a British passport, which takes four or five months. But if not, it gets much more complicated. Anything to do with the Home Office is always a nightmare, anyway. It’s a Byzantine system.’

Audrey sighed to herself. Casey remembered that Audrey’s parents had been part of the Windrush generation: dropped into a bureaucratic chaos after decades of happy life in London.

‘And commercial surrogacy is only legal in a very few countries?’ said Casey.

‘Yes,’ said Audrey. ‘It started up in several places around the world, but then each of those countries quickly realises that there is a reason why there is a lot of regulation around surrogacy. I can’t see any record of legal surrogacy in Bangladesh. It never really got started there. Certainly, if someone found a way to fast-track the other routes, they could make a chunky profit from it.’

‘What if they had someone out there who could provide them with Bangladeshi birth certificates?’ asked Casey. ‘If it had just the intended parents’ names on it, rather than the actual birth mother, might it be much easier to get the British passport?’

‘Possibly,’ said Audrey. ‘And that may be easier to achieve in Bangladesh. I don’t know.’

‘If they did that,’ Casey was thinking aloud, ‘it might be quite straightforward for someone to issue the passport from the High Commission.’

Audrey stood up, giving them a glint of a smile.

‘Good luck,’ she said. ‘I must get going.’ She disappeared. There was a momentary hush.

‘OK,’ said Miranda. ‘Then what’s the approach?’

4

4

‘Passports,’ said Casey firmly. ‘If the babies are being born illegally in Bangladesh, the organisers of this scheme must be finding a way of getting them back into this country. A baby’s no use unless you can bring it back to the UK for the IPs. And as Audrey says, that process usually takes months, and there are a lot of legal hoops. To make any sense of operating in Bangladesh, there may well be someone manipulating the system in Bangladesh somehow, possibly with the emergency passports.’

Miranda was playing with her scarf.