Concierge Surrogacy Services for LGBT Families
It’s a common misconception in surrogacy that if you already have a surrogate willing to carry your baby, you don’t need an agency’s help. Finding the right surrogate is just a small piece of a very complex puzzle. Navigating the surrogacy process on your own can be overwhelming. Reputable agencies make sure that steps aren’t skipped and everything is done legally and efficiently. Our concierge services can assist you during your journey if you already found a surrogate but want assurance that you are doing everything else correctly.
Another misconception in surrogacy is that if someone offers to be your surrogate, whether that is a family or friend, that she will automatically be a good candidate for surrogacy. In reality, the majority of fertility clinics will require her to undergo the same physical and psychological testing that all surrogates need to go through. Just because she offered, doesn’t mean she will pass these tests and be a good candidate for surrogacy. An agency has already required their cleared surrogates to undergo the majority of these tests to ensure that the surrogates are good candidates for surrogacy. If you want a smooth surrogacy journey, you don’t want to skip these steps just because you know the surrogate.
A huge advantage to using an agency for concierge services if you already found a surrogate is for money purposes. Even if you aren’t compensating your surrogate for her services, there will be reimbursements along the way and that can make things awkward between the intended parents and surrogate. Because I’m not the best candidate for surrogacy because I have had one pre-term birth, no agency would work with me but my good friends needed a surrogate and their fertility clinic cleared me as a good candidate for them. The most awkward part of the process is texting them receipts and bills to reimburse me. Then if they forget that I texted it feels really awkward to text again to remind them to send money. It was so nice last time when I sent all of my receipts and bills to an outside party and the IPs and I never had to discuss money after the contract was agreed upon. Having to discuss money and waiting on payments can ruin relationships between IPs and surrogates, using an agency as a middle man ensures you won’t have to deal with these issues.
The legal part of the surrogacy journey is what seems to scare people the most. I just spoke with someone recently that said, “well I have an attorney so I don’t have to worry about that.” Just because someone is an attorney, doesn’t mean they have experience with surrogacy law. My neighbor and friend is an attorney and I asked him if he could be my attorney for this surrogacy journey, thankfully he was honest and said he had no experience with surrogacy and referred me to another attorney who specialized in family law and has been legal counsel to IPs and surrogates. You will want to hire an attorney that specializes in this field so you know they aren’t missing any important aspects such as estate planning and making sure you have guardianship plans in place incase something happens to you before your child is born.
Another important legal aspect is making sure you have rights to your child when they are born. Our concierge services can help make sure that things with the birth certificate go smoothly after the birth of your child. Usually a pre-birth order can be obtained early in the pregnancy with both intended parents named as the parents on the birth certificate. If a pre-birth order isn’t obtained, a post-birth order will be done. Hospital staff can be confused about how this all works so our concierge services can help explain to them so the IPs and surrogate don’t have to deal with this.
We are here for you whether you want to use an agency 100% or just utilize our concierge services.
~ The Honest Surrogate