oposed adoption, and to gather information about them for inclusion in the report. If an adoption order is made, the non-resident birth parent will be relieved of any obligation to maintain the child, but they will also be deprived of their legal relationship with the child, including the right to make an application for a section 8 order (including a contact order) without the leave of the court. 8.71. The views and wishes of members of the wider family are also likely to be relevant, and the social worker will need to consider whom it will be necessary to approach. This may be a matter of special significance if the child’s non-resident birth parent is dead. Even where an absent parent does not have current contact with the child, their parents may have a continuing and beneficial grandparental relationship. Where there is contact between the child and the grandparents, it will be necessary for all the family members to consider how the making of an adoption order might affect their relationship. Where a birth parent and/or members of the wider family live outside the UK, the social worker will need to consider the most appropriate way of obtaining information and ascertaining their views. In cases where there might be a risk of harm to the child or their birth parent in disclosing their whereabouts to wider family members, some discretion should be exercised, and in exceptional cases, it may be necessary to ask the court for directions. Applications by same-sex couples following in vitro fertilisation or surrogacy 8.72. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 (as amended by The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008) has made it possible under certain conditions for the female partner of a woman who gives birth following donor insemination to be treated 