The Choice of Becoming a Surrogate – Introduction:

Surrogate mothers are people who carry a child for another person. They may or may not be biologically or genetically related to the baby. The former is referred to as “Traditional surrogacy” in which the surrogate provides her egg and the intended father provides the sperm and the latter is called “Gestational surrogacy” in which the intended parents’ egg and sperm are fertilized and artificially inseminated into the surrogate’s womb.

Women choose to become a surrogate for various reasons such as:

• They feel happy helping other couples to become parents. 
• They know a friend or a family member who cannot conceive and they come forward to extend their support.
• They are inspired by the journey of surrogates from a known circle.
• They love being pregnant.
• Some women prefer to pursue surrogacy because of their financial needs. Some surrogacy agencies disqualify a surrogate if her only intention is to save money. This is because this motive may distract her from taking care of the child properly during pregnancy.

How to Proceed with Surrogacy?

Now that a woman has decided to become a surrogate mother, it is advisable to know the process thoroughly beforehand instead of taking inconclusive decisions halfway through the journey. She has to get proper counselling and has to satisfy surrogacy requirements before proceeding.

A surrogate can either approach a surrogacy agency in case she wants to make use of full service offered by them or a surrogacy attorney if the surrogate is well experienced with surrogacy and just wants help with legal contracts.

You can find the best surrogacy agency if they satisfy the below requirements and offer the mentioned services:

• History of successful surrogacy and good reviews
• Whether they are licensed or have licensed professionals
• Will they provide services out-of-state surrogates?
• How long is the wait time to match a surrogate to the intended parents? How do they advertise the surrogates to the intended parents?
• Do they provide screening services and what are the pre-requisites?
• Do they provide counselling and education services for a new surrogate and the intended parents?
• Do they link you to the required attorney and medical providers? Or they licensed?

• How much compensation they provide for surrogacy?
• What kind of communication services they provide to keep the intended parents and the surrogates in touch throughout the process? Will they jump in to solve issues should they arise? 

Steps to Become a Surrogate:

California is considered a surrogacy supportive state. There are a lot of agencies and surrogacy attorneys who help surrogates to go through a smooth surrogacy process. Though there are no federal laws surrounding surrogacy, there are state-specific requirements to become a surrogate in California. Once you are sure about your surrogacy decision and have given a thought if you are planning to work with an agency or an attorney in case of independent surrogacy, these are the basic steps that are followed for you to deliver a baby through surrogacy:

1. Check if surrogacy is legal in your state.  
2. Check if you satisfy the basic requirements of surrogacy such as age limit, pregnancy history, BMI, etc. and qualify.
3. Find out an agency if you want the matching service to be done by them and submit an application to them along with your health history and information about habits such as smoking, caffeine, alcohol, etc.
4. Perform physical, psychological screenings to ensure that you are fit.
5. Agency will advertise your application.
6. Matching process to link you to intended parents. If you are an independent surrogate, you can find the intended parents from your known circle or through search, otherwise, the agency will take care of screening the parents and linking the perfect intended parents to you.
7. Once a match is found, work with an attorney to write a legal contract that explains the process, the compensation, responsibilities, adoption, etc.
8. Work with an IVF center to artificially inseminate the embryo.
9. Pregnancy journey
10. Give birth and surrender the baby to the parents according to the contract.
11. Discuss further support such as breastfeeding or any other services required.
12. Get compensation.

A Full-Service Surrogacy Agency in California:

A budding or an experienced surrogate in California, whatever your aspiration is, we, “Made in the USA Surrogacy”, are here to help you with a fruitful tension-free surrogacy journey by offering full services right from counselling, screening to delivery and beyond. We have several branches in California with which we extend our advertising services and match you to the intended parents without much delay. Once matching is done, we will stand as a proper mediation between the parties to ensure a smooth process. We promise that your decision of surrogacy is well justified.