The male and female whose genes actually make up the genetic inheritance of a child and who are therefore the child’s immediate ancestors and nearest blood relatives; also called birth parents or natural parents. The term is most widely used when a child has more than one set of parents to distinguish between the parents whose genetic inheritance the child bears and those who have legal custody of the child, such as adoptive parents, foster parents, or stepparents. Biological parents have parents’ rights and parents’ responsibilities, including the right to see the children and the duty to contribute to their support. However, some confusion has come to surround the term, because it is not always clear who are the legal parents of a child born using some of the new reproductive approaches, such as artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization, and surrogate parenting. Under the uniform parentage act enacted in some states, for example, the father of a child born through artificial insemination is recognized as the husband of the woman who bears the child, not the donor who provided the sperm.