What makes a legal parent?

In 1992, the Uniform Law Conference of Canada adopted the Uniform Child Status Act. This uniform act includes provisions for determining legal parentage where assisted reproduction is used and the birth mother and her husband (or male partner) intend to be the child’s parents. It does not deal with how to determine legal parentage where the birth mother is in a same-sex relationship, or where a child is born as a result of a surrogacy arrangement. To assign parentage in this setting; a legal contract directing parentage to the other partner must exist at birth. The law states that in the making of parenting arrangements, no particular arrangement is presumed to be in the best interests of the child and without limiting that, the following must not be presumed:

(a) that parental responsibilities should be allocated equally among guardians;
(b) that parenting time should be shared equally among guardians;
(c) that decisions among guardians should be made separately or together.