How to use your Agency as your Advocate
There is more to a surrogacy agency than just finding you the right match. Agencies help with all of the paperwork; background checks, medical clearance, psychological evaluations, interviews, matching, and questions that come up along the way...but wait, there’s more!
Agencies can be a great mediator between IPs and GCs. GCs & IPs are all going through a very physically and emotionally trying time. There are unexpected issues that can arise during a surrogacy journey and it’s not always comfortable to approach the other party directly. This is when an agency can come in handy. IPs and GCs tend to develop relationships with the individuals at the agency to the point where they are comfortable talking about things that are bothering them. When something comes up that needs to be discussed between the two parties, the agency can set up and attend the meeting to work out the issue. If a meeting isn’t desired, the agency can be the middleman between the two parties to help open communication. Agencies also tend to have a good rapport with psychologists that they can refer the two parties to if desired.
An example of when an agency might be your advocate would be; as a surrogate, you are in your third trimester with just a couple of weeks to go until baby arrives. You just had an appointment and baby is breech. Your doctor is suggesting a c-section if baby does not turn head down before birth. You want to try everything possible to get the baby to turn but the intended parents want to just wait it out. You also found a doctor who specializes in breech vaginal deliveries and you want to switch care to her for the duration of the pregnancy. As the surrogate, you feel like you have done your research and have found a reasonable compromise. You might feel like the IPs aren’t thinking about how a c-section is a major surgery and they are just worried about their baby...the IPs might think you are just worried about yourself and not thinking of the baby. You all can’t seem to have a conversation about the situation without it getting heated. This is a great time to ask the agency to sit down with all parties and discuss all of the options and hopefully find a solution. You can even have the agency step in before it gets heated, just to have a third party present.
Agencies wear many hats. The surrogacy journey can be completely overwhelming. Having an agency to help you through it can make your life much easier!
~ The Honest Surrogate