Confirming the acknowledgement of maternity

In addition to the mother who gave birth to the child, the woman who has given her consent to fertility treatment can also be confirmed as the mother.

The purpose of establishing maternity is to obtain the information required for confirming the second mother for a child born with the help of fertility treatment.

The person who has given birth to the child is always the child’s mother. A second mother can also be confirmed for the child if the child was born with the help of fertility treatment and both mothers have given their consent to the treatment.

The second requirement for confirming maternity is that the child’s father cannot be confirmed or established. Paternity cannot be confirmed if the man who donated the gametes has refused to be confirmed as the father of the child born with the help of fertility treatment. If the child was born during the marriage of the mother and the mother’s husband, the second mother may nevertheless acknowledge her maternity if the mother who gave birth to the child and her husband accept the acknowledgement. Paternity of the husband is annulled when maternity of the woman acknowledging the child is confirmed.

Do as follows

• You can acknowledge maternity already before the child’s birth by stating to the municipal child welfare officer or to a nurse at a municipal maternity clinic that you are the child’s second mother. You must do this in person in the presence of the pregnant mother, and you must present a certificate of the fertility treatment that you have received.
• If the mother acknowledges her maternity to the child welfare officer before the child’s birth, you must also present the pregnancy certificate provided by the maternity clinic.
• If you have not acknowledged your maternity before the child’s birth, you can acknowledge your maternity after the child’s birth by stating to the child welfare officer in person that you are the child’s second mother.
• The child welfare officer who established maternity will send the record of the maternity investigation and the acknowledgement documents to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency, which will confirm maternity on the basis of the documents supplied by the child welfare officer. If maternity was acknowledged before the child’s birth, the child welfare officer may only prepare the investigation record after 30 days have passed from the child’s birth.

Frequently asked questions