What is modern surrogacy anyway?
Gestational surrogacy is an arrangement in which a woman carries a pregnancy for her intended parents, sometimes referred to as IPs. Often but not always, the IPs may be unable to carry the pregnancy themselves either due to being a single male or a male couple or in the case of a single female or a heterosexual couple, experiencing a medical condition or diagnosis hindering pregnancy, such as infertility.
Is the surrogate related to the child they carry?
The child(ren) carried by a surrogate are not genetically related to the surrogate. As the surrogate’s egg is not used in the process of forming the embryo. Instead, the embryo is created using the intended mother and father’s genetics, donor genetics, or a combination of parental and donor genetics.
Do most surrogates and intended parents know one another before working together?
Most surrogacy arrangements are between parties who were previously unknown to one another and were matched to by an agency or clinic program specializing in process. This is in part because it takes a very special woman to meet the clinical and lifestyle standards of reputable surrogacy programs and so even when intended parents may have someone in their lives who offers to carry, those known individuals do not often qualify.
Why do most surrogates work with professional surrogacy programs?
Management of a surrogacy journey includes legal, interpersonal, medical, and logistical considerations which are not immediately obvious and which can be dramatic in effect. Professional oversight of a surrogacy arrangement is not only customary, it is very much advised.
Professional management of the surrogacy journey means that toxic intended parents, who may have bad or misguided intentions are weeded out and those who may not otherwise know any better are educated and encouraged to consider the endeavor as a partnership and not think of their surrogate as an employee. Professional programs optimizes relationships, and protect interests, ward off attempts of manipulation, sabotage or bad behavior and work to ensure that payments, billing and legal considerations are properly managed.
If you are interested in learning whether you qualify to become a surrogate, we invite you to take our prescreen by clicking here.
Read to learn more about KindEOS’ Mindful Matching™ methodology to better understand all the ways in which potential surrogates and intended parents are considered, prior to being brought together for a kindEOS journey.
