Looking for a Surrogate? Your 6-Step Timeline To a Surrogate
The process of finding a surrogate could take some time- but don’t worry!
Hello Intended Parents and hopeful surrogate mothers.
If you’ve reached this blog it’s probably because you may be having a hard time finding a surrogate mother, or you know that you need a surrogate mother.
At Made in the USA Surrogacy, we want to make the process of surrogacy easy for parents to understand so they don’t have to decide to try the journey of surrogacy on their own without a surrogacy agency.
That’s why we have written and continue to write blogs on topics like 12 steps to find a surrogate and other related topics for surrogates such as our article about becoming a surrogate.
Today you may have reached this post wondering why you haven’t seen a profile in a while from the surrogate agency you may have hired, or whether you might see profiles from a surrogate agency before you sign up with them to become an intended parent.
Today we are going to discuss some of these details and how long it will truly take to find a surrogate.
Here are a few things you should consider as a parent wanting to have a child through surrogacy:
#1 – What type of surrogate agency you hire could make a difference and substantially decrease the time that it takes you to find a surrogate?
At Made in the USA Surrogacy, we pride ourselves on being a boutique surrogate agency out of Northern California.
Many surrogacy agencies are located in the southern California region such as Los Angeles, Irvine, and San Diego.
Though we work with couples or singles hoping to have a child by surrogacy in any part of California, we pride ourselves on matching parents with local surrogates from California and specifically women from the Roseville area and surrounding cities.
What does a boutique surrogacy agency provide?
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Local Surrogates
We want to make sure that all people undergoing IVF that will need a surrogate are matched with a surrogate who is local to them if at all possible! Don’t forget there are many surrogates from other states that provide excellent matches for intended parents. We have many surrogates from surrounding states, even as far as Pennsylvania. But the long story short is that a boutique agency will be able to match you quicker, with more localized surrogates (since we are marketing in our local area of Northern California).
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We are more “hands on”
Because we are a boutique sized agency, we are smaller and more agile than our larger surrogate agency counterparts. We pride ourselves by being very involved with our surrogates from the very beginning of the surrogacy process to the end of the pregnancy process. By being more “hand on” throughout your surrogacy journey as a parent, we can ensure you that our matches are committed to the process and we are committed to finding you a surrogate.
Also, with us being more hands-on in our process of surrogacy- you can expect we will be getting back to your questions faster, and surrogate candidates will want to be with us because they are not just a “number” with us.
Paying attention to detail can mean the difference for many surrogate candidates that have lots of questions and concerns. This will mean more candidates for you to choose from in the long run.
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We are constantly marketing for surrogates and local surrogates
A lot of intended parents wish to have a local surrogate from their home state or close to them, so they can go to appointments and be involved with the pregnancy.
We are marketing for surrogates in Roseville, Sacramento, Rocklin, Elk Grove and surrogates in the East Bay area of California. Whether you are a parent who lives in Southern California and looking for a California surrogate, you can bet that our surrogates will be right for your situation.
Unfortunately, we have heard from parents who have hired larger surrogate agencies that not only are they more expensive, but they are busier with many clients.
With more parents on their roster to match- you can bet that they too will take months or more to find a surrogate match for parents.
#2 – Surrogate Mothers take time to screen- and surrogate screening is difficult
Regardless of whether you hire a big surrogate agency or a boutique surrogate agency- the long and the short of the matter is that every surrogate agency has to screen candidates who come through the door thoroughly.
As a general figure- we probably only accept 20% of the surrogates that apply.
Whether or not they are received into our program to become a surrogate, we spend copious amounts of time going through their medical records, asking the hard questions about the surrogates’ background, motivations, and we have multiple eyes on their medical ability to carry your child.
#3 – Surrogate candidates are at an all-time low
Regardless of the amount of marketing for surrogates we and other agencies do for mothers who want to become a surrogate, the commitment of becoming a surrogate is very large, and the qualifications are many.
Couple that with the fact that surrogate mother candidates are not able to become a surrogate from just any state- they must be from a “surrogacy-friendly state” where the law will allow the surrogate to be compensated and the parents to become the legal parents over the child after birth.
Believe it or not, some states require intended parents or persons who wish to become parents by surrogacy, to fully adopt the child after birth!
Because of this issue alone, it will mean that your prospects for a surrogate may be few and take a while to pre-screen which means they need to have the right medical history and motives and be from the right state to become a surrogate.
You may have to wait for the right candidate to come along for a few months (even some large surrogacy agencies have long wait times for surrogate mothers- up to 12 months),
#4 – Most surrogacy agencies will not show completed profiles before you sign on
We sometimes have parents that call looking for a surrogate and they automatically want to see who we have on our list of surrogates prior to retaining our services.
In essence, going to the front of the line in case there would be a surrogate they are interested in and they could choose to match with them before hiring the surrogate agency to actually find them a surrogate match.
There are many problems with this method of finding a surrogate.
Not only are you asking the surrogate agency to expose their work with the surrogates prematurely- but the practice of sending you profiles to look at candidates before we have information on what you are looking for could cause confusion.
We understand as parents- you want to be in control of the process of surrogacy that you hire your surrogacy agency for, however, you have to trust us to do our job in order to help you find the exact surrogate you are looking for.
There is a reason we ask you to put your trust in us- one of these reasons is that our job as a surrogate agency is to specifically “match” you with a certain type of woman that fits your wants and needs.
If we don’t know what your criteria is first: ie- what your budget is, whether you will become a parent with our agency, or whether you have embryos and where those embryos are located- we cannot guarantee an accurate match for your purposes, and you may end up disappointed.
We try to avoid all forms of disappointment by following these steps of finding a surrogate for you.
#5 – Your list of what you want in a surrogate will impact the availability of surrogates
We’ve spoken a lot about this topic in our other blogs including the 5 expectations every intended parent should have about the surrogacy process, but the truth about finding a surrogate is that the more expectations you have about who you want, who she should be, or whether or not she has to share your beliefs on aborting the child they are trying to help you have- can drastically affect the timeline finding a surrogate.
Try to keep your list of wants/needs for your surrogate to be the following:
- Her pregnancy history should be clean and she should have healthy children
- Her age should be between 23-38
- She should have a great support system
- You and your surrogate should mesh with your goals and dreams for the surrogacy
Other than that- keep an open mind!
You never know what state the right surrogate for you will be from, what race/nationality she may be, how she looks, whether she is from Sacramento, CA or from Los Angeles, CA- if she is an amazing surrogate candidate- we will be sure to let you decide!
#6 – Bottom line – Expect that it will take time
From the IVF treatments you have to undergo as a parent to retrieve your eggs to the medical screening of your surrogate candidate and transfer of the embryo- the surrogacy process can take time.
Make sure to read our other blogs on the surrogacy process to help answer any questions you may have.
Expect that in order to find the right surrogate for you will take anywhere from 2-6 months after you sign your agency retainer agreement with Made in the USA Surrogacy and hire us to find you a surrogate!
If you are a parent who has always wanted a child and you have embryos ready for transfer- make sure to give us a call at 916-226-4342 or fill in our form to get started looking for a surrogate.
If you are a potential surrogate candidate, and you believe you have what it takes to complete our surrogacy screening- we would love to hear from you!
Please fill out our surrogate intake form and we will schedule a time to talk about the process!
