

Choosing a Surrogacy Agency The biggest difference between choosing a donor and choosing a surrogate
is, choosing a donor is donor driven, while choosing a surrogate is likely to be agency driven. Many intended
parents may put up with a donor agency that they don’t love because the agency has the donor they want.
The donor cycle is relatively short in comparison to the surrogacy cycle.
The surrogacy cycle is a longer and more complex relationship. What you want is a good woman with a healthy
uterus who has had children of her own and will be reliable. You also need an agency that is going to be responsive to your
needs and take care of all of the details right up through the birth of your child.
A few of the issues surrogacy agencies should:
- Help you with insurance arrangements for your surrogate
- Be a liaison between you and your surrogate when
needed
- Be
supportive of both you and your surrogate
- Keep you informed regarding cycle progress
- Recommend attorneys and trust fund managers
- Be responsive to your queries with in 24 hours
or less. Even if they don’t have the answer
yet you need to know you’ve been heard and they are working on it
Choosing a Surrogate When choosing a surrogate you want to make sure they have had children
of their own who are living at home with them. Never consider a surrogate who has not had a child herself. If a woman
has had a child but had to give it up for adoption and has no other children living at home with her she is more likely to
be conflicted. Your want her to be able to give birth to your child and go home and snuggle with her own realizing the
amazing blessing she has just bestowed on you while cherishing her own blessings.
A surrogate can be anywhere between the ages of 21- 42. Younger isn’t necessarily better.
You want to make sure the surrogate is grounded and responsible, if the surrogate is 40 or over it is best if her youngest
child is under the age of four and preferably closer to two.
The ideal surrogate should have a healthy Body Mass Index (BMI). I prefer a BMI of 30 or less though she could be a BMI of 32 if everything else is good. Avoid surrogates who have had gestational
diabetes, premature deliveries, any serious heath issues and more than three c-sections. You also want to make sure
she is a non-smoker and has no history of drug or alcohol abuse.
You also want assurance that your surrogate has a supportive community around her. If she is
married her husband must be supportive or you have a recipe for disaster. Ideally the surrogate should also have family
or good friends near by who are supportive and nurturing to make the process less stressful. All of these issues should
be addressed with the psychological evaluation of the surrogate and her spouse.
The psychological evaluation should be conducted by a licensed mental health professional. There
should be an in-depth interview of the surrogate and her husband to make sure they are in agreement and understand the impact
surrogacy may have on them as a couple as well as on their family. The surrogate should also take the Minnesota Multiphasic
Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI) to gage her stability to handle a surrogacy arrangement.
Your surrogate should be financially stable. She cannot be on public assistance and be a surrogate.
She and her husband should not have any criminal or bankruptcy history. You want someone who is not feeling pressured
to be a surrogate. Surrogates should never ask you for additional money. All financial issues should be addressed when
the contract is signed. If anything additional arises, as it may, it should be handled by the agency directly with you.
Most surrogates love being mothers, have easy pregnancies and want to help someone else experience the joy of parenthood.
The best surrogacy relationships are open and supportive. It
is never a good idea to have an anonymous surrogacy arrangement. You should probably plan on talking your surrogate
on a weekly basic as well as accompany you’re her, whenever possible, to her doctor’s appointments.
Surrogate Search Services
|