Despite obtaining a parenting order from court so that they can, for example, put her on their Medicare card, the Normans must wait until Emily is at least five years old before they can legally adopt her, a parliamentary inquiry heard yesterday.

Altruistic surrogacy, while not illegal in NSW, is unregulated, leaving surrogate mothers and intended parents alike in legal limbo. In Emily's case, her birth mother, Barbara Martin, and Ms Martin's partner, Graeme Joliffe, are the only people on her birth certificate despite having no genetic connection to her.

David Norman told the Inquiry into Legislation on Altruistic Surrogacy in NSW of the drawn-out legal saga they have endured and the uncertainty that lies ahead, despite having already undergone a two-year legal and medical vetting process before Emily was born in June last year.

They have spent $30,000 on the surrogacy process.

"Because of the procedures within [the Department of Community Services], we're talking five or six years before we can actually legally adopt Emily," Mr Norman said.

"It's the struggle after the birth that is the frustration."

They had obtained a pre-surrogacy legal agreement which, as it turned out, "wasn't worth the paper it was written on", Mr Norman said.

The Normans told the Herald that they had tried to have a child for 10 years but Mrs Norman was unable to carry a baby beyond six weeks and miscarried three times.

She had been through 21 assisted reproductive cycles, including eight through IVF.

Mrs Norman said that the reason DoCS gave for delaying adoption was "because they need to ask her [Emily] which set of parents she wants to live with".

The inquiry heard that state and territory attorneys general planned to release a public discussion paper on uniform national surrogacy laws in coming weeks but had already agreed in principle that the birth mother should not be forced to give up her child.

The standing committee of attorneys-general also agreed that parenting orders should give intended parents full legal rights and that commercial surrogacy should continue to be outlawed.

The director of legal services at DoCS, Rod Best, told the inquiry most adoptions took about a year and there were only "one or two" surrogacy cases a year.

A DoCS spokeswoman later said that some adoption cases may involve waiting until the child is five or six years old to ensure there is an established relationship with the intended parents and possibly also to ensure the child understands the process.

"The NSW Department of Community Services has no specific policies and procedures in relation to surrogacy … [and] acknowledges that the current situation is piecemeal."