Once you've decided that you want to have a baby through surrogacy, it is time to choose the surrogacy agency that will work with you on your surrogacy journey.
Choosing an ideal surrogacy agency is crucial to having a successful surrogacy process. With surrogacy being legalized in most states, finding a local surrogacy agency has become easier than ever. However, for anyone who's not familiar with surrogacy, it can be a challenge to choose a surrogacy agency.
To help intended parents through this nerve-wracking process, we have summarized a step-by-step guide on how to choose a surrogacy agency, to make sure you find the surrogacy agency that you're absolutely comfortable to work with.
Step 1: Choose an agency with a good amount of surrogate profiles readily available
When it comes to surrogacy, you can never have too many surrogate mothers to choose from. Choosing the right surrogate mother means that you need to find the surrogate you are satisfied with, surrogacy-wise and personality-wise. Therefore, working with a surrogacy agency that has a good amount of surrogates to choose from is really important if you aim to find the perfect surrogate for you.
Step 2: Choose an agency with an affordable surrogacy program and good financing options
Because of the people and required in the surrogacy journey and surrogacy's special legal procedures and complexities, surrogacy can be costly. It usually costs over $100,000, and it can easily go above $150,000. While surrogacy is generally considered expensive, there are surrogacy agencies with cheaper surrogacy base costs, significantly reducing the financial burden for intended parents. It's definitely worthwhile to check out some cheaper options and see if they meet your expectations.
A lot of surrogacy agencies are also offering financing options through surrogacy loans. By extending the surrogacy payment to a couple of years, a good surrogacy loan option can help you manage your financial status.
Step 3: Choose an agency with good surrogacy experience
You can tell the experience and quality of a surrogacy agency from several aspects.
1. Quality of the surrogates
Surrogates are the most important part of a surrogacy agency. Having good quality surrogates means that the surrogates passed through a thorough screening before they became surrogates. This will give you a better chance of finding an ideal surrogate for your surrogacy journey.
2. The agency's way of communicating with surrogates
The communication between the surrogacy agency and surrogates is important. It's the only way the agency can keep the surrogate's information up-to-date so that you can get the most accurate information when you are choosing a surrogate. During the surrogacy process, efficient communication is key to having a smooth surrogacy journey.
3. Good communication between employees
It is generally considered better if there is an organized platform where the employees and the surrogates can easily communicate with each other. In that way, the surrogacy agency and surrogates are more efficient when working on your case.
Step 4: Choose an agency with strong technology capabilities
Imagine if you wake up in the morning and you can't find your smartphone, the first thing you'll do is finding your phone. Technology has been deeply integrated into our daily lives and it has changed the way we live, forever.
While surrogacy isn't exactly a technology-rich industry, applying technology to surrogacy has definitely the way surrogacy used to work. From things as simple as video conferences to more complicated technologies such as cloud platforms or even mobile Apps, they have made it possible for surrogacy to become simpler and easier for both intended parents and surrogates. A company with great vision in technology can make a lot of aspects of surrogacy much easier for you and your surrogate. For example, with a good mobile app, you can easily get updates of your surrogate's latest doctor appointment from the comfort of your home.
Human connection is always highly-valued in surrogacy, as we'd like to make connections with people that are with us on such a life-changing event. But also, combining human support with the help of technology can make the surrogacy process much less complicated.