Surrogacy Agencies: What You Need to Know

Whether you have chosen to or are thinking about using surrogacy as a method to grow your family or are a surrogate who wants to give the ultimate gift of life to a deserving family, you need to know about surrogacy agencies and how they can help you in your journey.

Not every surrogacy agency is created equally. As every surrogacy experience is different, some agencies will suit the needs of intended parents and surrogates more than others. It’s important to perform research before choosing an agency to work with. Here’s everything that you need to know about surrogacy agencies to help you with your decision.

Why People Use Surrogacy Agencies

A surrogacy agency is a company that specializes in aiding clients through every aspect of the surrogacy experience. Clients who utilize the services of surrogacy agencies typically fall under one of the following categories: intended parents, surrogates, or donors. As there are numerous different services involved in the surrogacy process, a surrogacy agency will feature a network of professionals who specialize in an aspect of surrogacy including the matching process, support services, referrals, and everything else that goes into a successful surrogacy journey.

Though surrogacy agencies are the most popular destination for those who are pursuing surrogacy, it is not required for donors, surrogates, or intended parents to work with an agency. However, most people choose to work with an agency because of their experience, knowledge, and professionalism. Surrogacy agencies are in a position to monitor every facet of the surrogacy process to ensure the success of surrogacy and the satisfaction of their clients.

Despite all of the benefits of working with a surrogacy agency many people who are pursuing surrogacy falter at the price of working with a reputable agency. However, these prices reflect the hard work that goes into overseeing a completed surrogacy journey. Medical costs, insurance costs, surrogate expenses, agency fees, and more, it’s a lot to cover. That’s why it’s imperative to choose an agency that charges fair and competitive rates without compromising the quality of their service.

What to Look for in a Surrogacy Agency

The agency that you choose to work with on your surrogacy journey will have a major impact on  its subsequent success. You must perform research on an agency prior to selecting one that suits your needs, whether you are a surrogate, a donor, or an intended parent.

A Solid Reputation

As surrogacy is an important undertaking, it’s imperative to work with an agency with a good reputation for both intended parents and surrogates, alike. A good reputation is an indicator of successful past surrogacy and happy clients. It should not be difficult to find positive reviews of an agency that you intend to work with.

Many agencies have social media pages in which potential clients can see positive and negative reviews, comments, and concerns written by past clients. Consider it a red flag if you cannot find any reviews of an agency, this is sometimes evidence of a lack of clients and experience in an agency.

Reliable Communication

No one likes to feel as if they aren’t being heard, especially during the surrogacy process.

Whether you are a surrogate, donor, or an intended parent, your questions, comments, and concerns during the surrogacy or donation process matters. Working with an agency that cares about your input and works to ensure that your worries are addressed and your questions get answered, makes all the difference in the world. Your agency should provide you with their contact information.

High-Quality Standards

High standards indicate that a lot of care, time, and effort goes into making sure that the surrogacy process goes smoothly. Your agency should have strict standards when it comes to who can become a surrogate, who can become a donor, handling the legal aspects of surrogacy, and deciding who to work with as intended parents. It can be difficult to regulate these standards but putting in the work to ensure that only those who meet or exceed them is essential to the success of an agency.

Knowledgeable Staff

In the same way that you would never want an inexperienced doctor to perform surgery on you, you should never settle for working with an agency that hires staff who lack knowledge on the topic of surrogacy.

While certain members of agencies staff might specialize in a specific facet of surrogacy, every member of the staff should have a general idea of how the entire process works and be able to refer you to another staff member with expertise in a certain area. If you sense that the staff is not knowledgeable, you should seek out a more experienced agency.

Simple Surrogacy knows the value of an experienced staff. The overwhelming majority of our staff are women. From the executive staff to program coordinators, clients of Simple Surrogacy will work with a professional team of previous gestational carriers with multiple surrogacies under their belts. Those on our staff who are not previous surrogates, have extensive experience in the surrogacy process and have the know-how to aid both surrogates and intended parents in their journey.

Transparency

In addition to reliability, your agency should be transparent in their communication with you as their client. if you feel that your agency is keeping things from you or purposely misleading you, it may be a good idea to stop working with them. However, in cases where confidentiality is required, your agency should work to keep personal information private.

Cost

Stay away from agencies with exorbitant prices that don’t reflect any additional services that you can’t find elsewhere. When you were choosing a surrogacy agency, make sure that you research multiple agencies, and detail their services and their costs. This can help you to get an idea of what the range of common costs and expenses are, with this knowledge you can eliminate agencies that fall outside of that range.

Final Thoughts

Simple Surrogacy is here to help. We specialize in providing high-quality service to intended parents, surrogates, and donors as they make their way through the surrogacy process and help others grow their families. Simple Surrogacy takes pride in our long history of serving the surrogacy community.

We are available to answer any of your questions related to surrogacy and egg donation. Simply fill out our online form or give us a call at 1-866-41-SURRO. We look forward to hearing from you and aiding you as you embark on the incredible experience of surrogacy.