What is a surrogacy agency?

A surrogacy agency is a one-stop solution for those seeking to conceive a child via surrogacy. Finding a carrier willing to act as your surrogate is not the only challenging part of surrogacy; the process of screening surrogates, medical clearance, legal obligations, health insurance, IVF procedure monitoring, establishing parental rights, and all the intricacies in between help make surrogacy an extensive process best dealt by industry professionals.

A surrogacy agency helps you out with any issues that may arise during your surrogacy journey through its expertise in all key areas of third-party reproduction. With their help, intended parents are able to focus on the most important parts of their family-building journey and prepare for the arrival of their child.

What services does a surrogacy agency offer?
Most surrogacy agencies offer a wide range of case management services to clients such as coordinating between medical facilities, attorneys, and other key players for ensuring a smooth, hassle-free experience.

Although each surrogacy agency has its own unique mix of offerings, its core value addition lies in its expertise to screen and match surrogacy candidates, along with coordinating the whole process end-to-end in order to not deal with any extenuating circumstances.

Why should I work with a surrogacy agency?
With the number of legal, medical, and procedural requirements that entail surrogacy, in the absence of an agency, all the paperwork, compliance, communication with the surrogate, medical information, and countless other requirements would all need to be addressed by the intended parents exclusively which can get impossibly tough to manage on your own.

Additionally, another important role that most surrogacy agencies play is that of ongoing support and counseling. Surrogacy is an emotionally intensive journey for both the intended parents and the surrogate. For the former, relinquishing control of the pregnancy process to a certain extent can be challenging and at times, completely alien if one is going through secondary infertility troubles. Having to trust a stranger to carry your biological child for you and not being able to track their progress physically can get emotionally difficult, which is why surrogacy agencies make sure that there’s seamless communication between the surrogate and the IPs and also options for support and healing.

For a surrogate, bearing a child for someone else might be tricky as you cannot afford to get attached to the unborn baby. In gestational surrogacy the surrogate does not have any genetic connection with the baby however if the surrogate is also the egg donor, she is partially related to the child. In all such scenarios, it is important to have a team of experienced mental health practitioners available to guide you along the way, which is where a surrogacy agency plays a critical role.