Country guide
Family Building in the Netherlands
In the Netherlands, known donor arrangements and IVF/IUI are widely available and well-regulated, but anonymous donation is banned and commercial surrogacy is illegal — intended parents pursuing surrogacy typically go abroad and then complete a legal recognition process at home.
Known donor arrangements
Legal and common; a donor agreement is standard practice even though not always enforceable in family court.
Anonymous donation
Banned since 2004 — all donors are registered, and donor-conceived children can access identifying information from age 16.
IVF / IUI
Widely available through licensed clinics, for heterosexual couples, same-sex female couples, and single women.
Commercial surrogacy
Illegal — paying a surrogate beyond reasonable expenses is not permitted, and advertising for a surrogate is illegal.
Altruistic surrogacy
Tolerated in limited, private arrangements; intended parents must adopt after birth to secure legal parenthood.
Three or more legal parents
Dutch law recognizes a maximum of two legal parents — additional intended parents need informal agreements rather than legal status. A separate draft bill (Wet meerouderschap) would allow 3-4 legal parents for intentional multi-parent families; it went to public consultation in late 2025 but has not been submitted to parliament and has drawn criticism from the Council for the Judiciary, so the two-parent limit remains firmly in force for now.
Costs vary hugely by path: known donor and co-parenting arrangements are mostly legal-fee driven (a few hundred to a few thousand euros); IVF/IUI is partly insurance-covered, with donor sperm typically out of pocket; international surrogacy — the only realistic surrogacy route — is by far the most expensive, often well into six figures once agency, medical, and legal costs are combined.
Known donor and co-parenting arrangements can move in well under a year once the right person is found; IVF/IUI often takes several cycles before success; international surrogacy typically takes two or more years end to end, including the post-birth legal recognition process.
- Meer dan Gewenst — Dutch community for co-parents, donors, and known-donor arrangements
- Men Having Babies — International support and agency vetting for gay men pursuing surrogacy
- Fiom — Donor/recipient counseling and mediation