Being a Surrogate: The Screening Process
Being a surrogate is a unique and life-changing opportunity for women who want to help others start a family. As a surrogate, you will carry a baby for someone else and essentially lend your own body to bring new life into the world. It's a selfless act that requires a lot of physical, emotional, and mental strength, but it can also be incredibly fulfilling.
A surrogacy journey allows you to make a meaningful impact on someone's life while building a financial future for your own family. While there are challenges and risks involved in being a surrogate, many women find that it's one of the most meaningful experiences of their lives.
The Steps You'll take Before Being a Surrogate
Embarking on a surrogacy journey is a selfless and rewarding experience, but it's not a decision to be made lightly. The screening process is thorough and comprehensive, designed to ensure that the surrogate is physically healthy, emotionally stable, and fully committed to the journey ahead.
The first step in your process is to fill out an application, which becomes your profile. This will ask you detailed questions about your medical history, your pregnancies, your home life, why you want to be a surrogate, and how you envision your journey. These help you find the perfect intended parents to embark on this journey with you.
Once you've completed your application, you'll schedule a consultation. The consultation will walk through more details of your journey, home life, and verify the information given on your profile. The consultation enables the surrogacy team to answer any questions you may have, get to know you, and who would be a perfect match for you and your family.
After you've completed the application and the consultation, if you're still interested in being a surrogate, you'll start the paperwork process. This process can be quick and seamless or take a while; it depends entirely on your responsiveness and readiness.
What's involved in the paperwork?
To complete the paperwork, you'll provide copies of your ID, the ID of your partner if you have one, and sign a commitment agreement, a benefits package, medical release form, and vide and photo releases. All of these are to help ensure you are setup for success on your surrogacy journey.
Once signed, the waiting begins. The surrogate team will begin obtaining your medical records from throughout each of your pregnancy journeys to ensure there were no complications, health risks to you, or reasons a clinic may deny you. Obtaining medical records can take anywhere from 1 - 4 weeks, depending on the facility and/or hospital.
During the waiting process, you’ll also complete a home evaluation. This evaluation is not to knit pick or ensure you have a perfect home, but it’s to ensure you have a safe place to be pregnant. It’s a simple process where you can video chat with your surrogacy team member and verify the home you live in. Once completed, you’ll provide one photo of each room in the home, other than your children’s room to your coordinator. Remember, we know you have kids, so toys and dishes are just fine.
This is also a great opportunity to speak to your kids about the potential opportunity for you to be a surrogate. Since they will be a part of the journey, you want to also prepare them as much as possible. Read more about preparing your family.
After the paperwork, what's next?
Once OB and delivery records are obtained, the surrogate team will review and see if there is any additional information you may need to be approved by a clinic. Some updates that may be required are; an updated pap, an OB clearance letter, or another form of clearance based on notes in your records.
Sometimes, if you've decided to walk through a surrogacy journey visiting your OB and obtaining a clearance letter first can be helpful. This can eliminate the wait while also ensuring your body is set up for success to be pregnant again. Your OB can look at your body and tell you if being a surrogate is the right choice for you.
Once the medical review is completed and the team has shared if anything else is needed, a background check will be submitted. The background check step requires a full background check on a potential surrogate and anyone over 18 years of age in the home. This is to ensure the safety of you and the unborn child throughout the pregnancy.
After everything has been cleared by the surrogate recruitment team, you are ready to start the next phase in the process of being a surrogate - matching! This is the most exciting part of the journey because you are able to decide who you'd like to be your Intended Parents and officially start your journey.
So, if you’re thinking of starting a surrogacy journey, having things prepared ahead of time can make all the difference. Take moment to get an updated PAP, talk to your OB/primary care physician, and make sure you are ready to answer questions, hop on a call, and sign paperwork so you can move forward quickly and efficiently.
