Surrogacy

Sometimes a family is not comfortable with  the complexities of a relationship with a child’s birth family.  These  families often opt for a closed adoption or an international adoption.  As these types of adoptions are becoming more rare, they are looking towards surrogacy arrangements.  There are two types of surrogacy agreements:  traditional and gestational.

In a traditional surrogacy a woman agrees to carry a child for you while also allowing her eggs to be used for purposes of creating that child.  This type of surrogacy is extremely risky as the surrogate must agree, after birth,  to the placement of the child and the termination of her parental rights, much like in domestic adoption.  There have been cases of surrogates deciding to parent what is half their biological child and the “other parents” having to share custody and even pay child support with the woman they hired as their surrogate.  We do not involve ourselves in this type of surrogacy and suggest you don’t either; no matter how well you think you know the surrogate, the chance of heartbreak is high.

In gestational surrogacy there is no biological tie to the surrogate.  The surrogate is the womb that carries a child for you and your spouse.  She cannot change her mind after birth and decide to parent the child and, unlike in adoption,    you can  contractually make certain requirements of the surrogate, like no smoking, regular prenatal visits, drug screens etc.   A family can also carefully select a surrogate whose beliefs and lifestyles match their own.  However, because this type of surrogacy involves more complex medical procedures to achieve pregnancy, it is more expensive.  A surrogate is also compensated for her time, much like you are compensated for your employment.