The Importance of Psychological Screening for Both Intended Parents & Surrogate Mothers
One aspect of surrogate qualifications for any new surrogate joining a surrogate agency is that they need to undergo psychological screening. The importance of psychological screening cannot be understated.
This is an important part of the surrogate qualifications because surrogacy can take its toll on mental and emotional health sometimes. Our surrogacy agency located in the greater Sacramento area does not only require surrogates to have a psychological screening. Intended parents can also benefit from the screening.
What Happens During a Psychological Screening?
For those who have never had to do a screening before, you may wonder what you can expect. Psychological screenings perform a Personality Assessment Inventory or an MMPI- 2. In this screening, there are over 600 questions that need to be answered. It usually takes about 2-3 hours to complete.
You’ll answer questions that will help determine if you have any negative sides to your personality that might come into conflict with either becoming a surrogate or an intended parent.
When evaluating the importance of psychological screening, there is a minimum of 22 scales that are tested for and can include more. Some of these include:
- Somatic Complaints
- Anxiety
- Anxiety-Related Disorders
- Depression
- Mania
- Paranoia
- Schizophrenia
- Borderline Features
- Antisocial Features
- Alcohol Problems
- Drug Problems
- Aggression
- Suicidal Ideation
- Stress
- Nonsupport
- Treatment Rejection
- Dominance
- Warmth
- Inconsistency
- Infrequency
- Negative Impression
- Positive Impression
Surrogate Qualification Screening Questions
1) Do You Abstain From Alcohol and Drugs?
Clearly, if you test high for some of these features, then you might not be a good candidate.
Qualifications and requirements of a surrogate mother’s habits are an important psychological screening process. One of the requirements, in order to become a surrogate, is that you don’t have alcohol or drug problems. This test can help determine whether or not you have an addictive personality.
Along with the test, you’ll have to sit down with the licensed psychologist who will ask you questions personally. This interview can be conducted either in-person or through Skype or some other form of a video call. If our surrogacy agency is able, we will help you conduct a meeting in person with the psychologist, as this is the preferred method by most fertility doctors.
2) Why Do You Want To Be Surrogate?
During that interview, the psychologist will ask you, the surrogate, about your surrogate journey. How do you intend to proceed with it? What sort of support systems does she have in place? Why does she want to be a surrogate? What sort of person does she want to carry babies for? The psychologist will also ask her how she feels about termination or selective reduction.
Those answers can also help determine whether or not the prospective surrogate is a good fit for a surrogate agency.
3) How Supportive Is Your Spouse?
In addition to interviewing the surrogate, the surrogate’s spouse or partner will also be interviewed. This is because the surrogate will be growing the baby at home. They need to ensure that the environment is a supportive and healthy one. If they’re being abused at home or if their spouse or partner isn’t able to support them, it could have an impact on the otherwise healthy pregnancy.
The spouse or partner will be asked similar questions. Particularly, however, the psychologist will be examining how supportive the spouse or partner is. They also want to make sure that the two are on the same page.
Why Screening is Important for Surrogates
Clearly, there’s an important emphasis on the psychological screening for women who want to become a surrogate. Why is that? Screenings help agencies find healthy-minded women.
Carrying a baby may seem easy for almost any woman not struggling with infertility. The idea of being paid just to be pregnant can be enticing. However, that also means that it attracts individuals who may not be the healthiest to attempt to become a surrogate. These women may not be mentally stable. All they see is dollar signs and an easy job.
These women won’t take the steps necessary to ensure a healthy pregnancy. They may quit their alcohol or drugs long enough to show clean test results. Yet once they’re pregnant, at the first sign of stress, they might cave and either drink or smoke or perform other drugs in order to cope. Your baby is at risk all the while.
Psychological screening can help keep those kinds of individuals from joining an agency.
For surrogates who are stable-minded, screening can help affirm that. It shows to both the intended parents and the surrogate agency that they are stable and devoted to helping the parents have their baby. They might be interested in making money as well, but they also want to ensure that they’re doing everything that they can to have a healthy pregnancy.
Develop a Healthy Support System
Support systems, especially, are vital. Women who don’t have a solid support system will struggle with the process of surrogacy. Not only will she find it difficult to get herself to her appointments, but because pregnancy is an emotional one, she won’t have anyone to rely on or lean on when she needs it the most. This can make pregnancy utter torture.
Screening can help weed out those with poor support systems from those with excellent support systems. These are women who have a spouse or partner or a strong family unit who is prepared to help her with the process of surrogacy. If something happens, then the parents know that she has plenty of people to rely on to support her. In so doing, their baby will also be kept safe.
Seeking Therapy or Guidance
One last way that screenings are important for surrogates is because they can make a good introduction between the surrogate and the psychologist from the California surrogate agency. Seeking therapy throughout the process is a great idea. It helps surrogates because they have someone they can vent to or seek guidance from. For those who see the psychologist with their spouse or partner, it can also help them develop excellent communication skills, so they know how to support one another.
Why psychological screening is important for Intended Parents
Parents can also benefit from being screened. Not every parent struggling with infertility may find surrogacy as the right answer for them. It can be difficult to trust someone else to carry your baby. The process can also take its toll on their mental health.
Screening can help determine whether or not the parent should continue on with a surrogacy agency to find a surrogate. They’ll also test their personality to see if they have any of the personality problems listed above. Certain personality types, like those who are dominant or anxious, may not be the most stable for the process.
Support systems are also extremely important for the side of the parent. Even though the surrogate is going to be the one carrying the baby, parents may struggle with being unable to do anything for them. That sort of helplessness can be difficult to deal with.
A solid support system can help them confide in that person and receive the emotional support that they need. It can also introduce them to a psychologist that they can also vent to and confide in about their concerns and worries.
In regards to screenings being important for parents about their surrogates, it’s also extremely important. Screenings allow parents to feel confident in the surrogacy agency in California that they’ve chosen to help find a surrogate for them. Our surrogate agency in Sacramento doesn’t allow just anyone into it. This gives our parents the confidence that they need to trust us to find a surrogate near them, or within their expectations.
Join Us Today
Psychological screenings are a vital step for our California surrogate agency. Join us today and meet with surrogates who have been tested and cleared for the process of surrogacy. If you would like to become a surrogate, please inquire here.
