By Rachel Burchfield | People
Tammy and Jordan Myers — the Michigan couple who have been fighting to adopt their own biological twins, born via a gestational carrier — are relieved after a judge legally made them the parents of Eames and Ellison on Thursday, the Myerses exclusively tell PEOPLE.
“Words cannot express how excited we are to put this adoption process behind us,” says Tammy, 41, of Grand Rapids. “This ongoing whirlwind has become our normal, and this craziness has all led to this special moment.”
It has been almost 365 days since PEOPLE last caught up with the Myers family of Grand Rapids, Michigan, who one year ago were excitedly preparing to celebrate their first Christmas as a family of five.
This Christmas, they’ll have even more to celebrate: The end of a legal battle that began before twins Eames and Ellison were born Jan. 11, 2021 via a gestational carrier — a route Tammy and Jordan chose because Tammy’s breast cancer treatments made her unable to carry children. The couple were already parents to daughter Corryn, now 10, but had yearned to grow their family.
Because of Michigan’s restrictive laws surrounding surrogacy — and despite Eames and Ellison being Tammy and Jordan’s children biologically and being in their care since birth with the full agreement of their gestational carrier — the couple were forced to adopt their own children.
“It has been a long two-year process,” Tammy tells PEOPLE, “but the timing also seems a bit perfect with the recent introduction of the new surrogacy bills in the Michigan House of Representatives.”
“It’s a great day: We are finally being recognized as our biological twins’ legal parents, and I’m feeling very hopeful that we will see a change to this crazy, outdated Michigan law,” she continues.
“This Michigan couple’s experience with surrogacy, which required the parents to legally adopt their own biological children, is a perfect example of why our laws must continue to change and evolve to reflect the needs of our society. In Arizona, like Michigan, surrogacy contracts are illegal and unenforceable, which inherently creates some risk for parents electing to go that route. If a prospective parent is looking to utilize a surrogate, it would be advisable to seek legal assistance long before the actual birth to ensure there is adequate time to prepare a pre-birth parentage order and avoid the far more difficult path of adoption.”
-Scott Ghormley, family law attorney at Rose Law Group
