Private surrogacy vs surrogacy agency - which is an ideal option?

January 20, 2023

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Congratulations! You have finally figured out a suitable method to conceive a baby that is medical and legally secure. Though, when you begin researching for a surrogacy journey you will come across facts and information that conflict with each other. This will make it even more difficult for intended parents with whether to embark on the journey of parenthood through private surrogacy or with a surrogacy agency.

The gestational surrogacy process includes several steps, you will need a qualified surrogate and in some cases, an egg or sperm donor as well as follow their medical and psychological evaluation to determine if they are a perfect fit for you.

Furthermore completing the medical process to make sure the surrogate confirms pregnancy, meanwhile the journey demands that the intended parents create and sign legal documents to obtain a parentage order, the child’s legal custody, discuss other essential surrogacy factors, and financial compensation with the surrogate mother. The entire process may feel like quite a big task and emotionally challenging for the intended parents.

This is the reason intended parents opt for an agency, in lieu of their surrogacy services you benefit from their wide range of network with surrogacy professionals and qualified surrogates. While other families may decide to walk through the journey with independent surrogacy commonly known as private surrogacy as well. If you choose to go independently, you will have to foresee each step by yourself.

Though couples and individuals who already know few surrogates and with the assistance of family and friends can successfully embark on the tedious journey of surrogacy. Both options have challenges and surrogacy benefit, sounds confusing? Don’t worry this blog covers everything regarding independent surrogacy and professional’s guidance with a surrogacy agency.

Let us help you to determine the right option with different factors for your surrogacy agency.

The journey of parenthood with a surrogacy agency
Pros and cons of working with a surrogacy agency
What is Independent surrogacy?
Perks and challenges with private surrogacy
Surrogacy agency vs Independent surrogacy
Which is an ideal option for intended parents?

our surrogacy
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The journey of parenthood with a surrogacy agency

An agency is meant to be a one-stop shop for all your surrogacy services. From maintaining clear communication between all the parties to handling the uncertainties an agency like Surrogency makes sure intended parents have a hassle-free and smooth surrogacy experience. Though, every agency provides a range of surrogacy services for couples and or individuals who wish to expand their families.

Conduct a matching process with the surrogate mothers and or qualified donors to ensure the intended parents have a safe medical process.
Screening process and background check with prospective surrogates and or donors.
Connecting intended parents to a fertility clinic, medical experts, and mental health professionals.
Enabling legal protection by assigning an experienced lawyer who guides and aids you to form essential legal documents.
And act as a bridge for both parties and solve all kinds of hurdles in between.

As a full surrogacy services agency, Surrogency completely educate intended parents through every stage of surrogacy and performs in-depth screening test while shortlisting prospective surrogates. We believe in maintaining transparency between both parties so that they know what to expect from the process.

Usually, intended parents who choose private surrogacy often neglect the fact that this journey is all about ups and downs which may bring along feelings of anxiety and emotional challenges to intended parents. Yes, private surrogacy saves your money but you don’t get any of the expert’s guidance. Meanwhile, an agency appoints a surrogacy professional or expert to each intended parent to guide, support, and solve their doubts.

Pros and cons of working with a surrogacy agency

A surrogacy journey assisted by an agency assures intended parents will hurdle-free surrogacy journey. Since agencies like Surrogency have been assisting intended parents to conceive a healthy child through surrogacy so we are well-versed with the complications, uncertainties, and other unobvious problems that may come along as you move towards the completion of the process.

There are a few surrogacy benefit i.e. pros and cons of working with an agency that you must consider before commencing the procedure.

Pros:

Agencies work to meet the specific needs of intended parents

Surrogency works hard to meet the several needs of intended parents from different backgrounds, locations, marital statuses, and sexual orientations. Our diversified surrogacy services are catered to fulfill the dreams of intended parents with medical, legal, screening, management, and other processes to be safe.

Expert’s advice

Every intended parent would have a basic understanding of the journey by the time they begin the journey but to complete the process successfully, you will need expert advice and guidance to surpass the technical stages like the medical process using IVF and the legal process. An expert from a renowned agency would be keen to guide and support you through each phase of the procedure.

Thorough screening process

When intended parents consider working with an agency for their surrogacy agency, they don’t have to worry about the eligibility of the surrogate and or donor as a surrogacy professional would assist them to match with a perfect surrogate who is fit and fertile. From conducting background checking of prospective candidates to performing physical and psychological tests to determine if she can successfully carry a child for you.

In addition, if intended parents have any additional criteria for a surrogate mother or egg donor then an agency would make sure the shortlisted candidates meet all surrogacy requirements.

No extra surrogacy cost

All the surrogacy professionals would give you certain surrogacy fees which include the cost of all the services of surrogacy, later on, whether it is legal proceedings or a surrogate’s monthly clinic visit, or the fertility clinic no one can ask you for extra fees amid the journey.

Cons:

It can be quite expensive

As an agency handles and manages every process for intended parents that requires professional’s expertise, compensation for surrogates and fees for different experts, and additional agency fees which in total adds to your entire surrogacy budget. This can be the reason why intended parents may consider opting for private surrogacy.

Intended parents may have less control over the journey

Since an agency looks after all the factors in a surrogacy process, a professional would always act as a bridge between all the parties involved intended parents may feel they don’t have direct access to the surrogate mother or they have little control over the surrogacy journey.

What is private or independent surrogacy?

As the name suggests, in this option intended parents walk through the path of surrogacy independently. One of the factors that influence intended parents to choose a private surrogacy is it is less expensive than any other surrogacy treatment through an agency. Though, this low-cost surrogacy option can be quite challenging as intended parents have to handle it by themselves without anyone’s guidance.

In the majority of the cases, intended parents who have undergone various IVF cycle attempts and personally know a surrogate mother opts for private surrogacy. As they have an understanding of the medical process might make them feel they can handle the journey by themselves but remember, the surrogacy process may bring alot of uncertainties and challenges, and when you do not have an expert by your side the experience can be quite overwhelming.

Perks and challenges with private surrogacy

Every procedure includes a few perks and challenges and with private surrogacy intended parents must be well-versed with each factor as you wouldn’t have any support throughout your journey towards parenthood.

Pros of private surrogacy

It aids in saving a few dollars

As intended parents embark on the journey of private surrogacy, there won’t be extra fees from the agency, and a few additional costs. Only the legal and medical costs would be your concern for the surrogacy process.

A closer relationship with the surrogate mother

You won’t need to contact an agency to check the health of the surrogate or to simply communicate with her. You can directly coordinate with her and build a strong bond with her during her pregnancy and if you wish you can continue that relationship even after the birth of your child.

Intended parents can have more control over the procedure

The intended parents manage every step of the surrogacy journey by themselves hence you get the liberty to have complete access to every aspect of the journey. Whether you want to visit a doctor’s clinic with a surrogate or communicate with a donor or surrogate you get more sense of control and responsibility.

Challenges with private surrogacy

Additional surrogacy cost

Although intended parents don’t pay for agency fees, you still would need different professionals like doctors, nurses, experienced lawyers, and more. At times, these surrogacy professionals would charge on an hourly or per-visit base instead of a determined fee.

No expert guidance

One of the major drawbacks of private surrogacy is you won’t have any expert guidance or support. If in the middle of your surrogacy journey, you face any uncertain hurdles you will have to figure them out on your own.

Surrogacy agency vs Independent surrogacy

When intended parents decide to begin a family via independent surrogacy, they may lose a few surrogacy benefit that essentially only an agency could offer. Whereas, in a private surrogacy intended parents have to undergo all the technical and other stages of surrogacy by themselves which can increase the timeline of their surrogacy journey.

To explain the differences between these options, let us explore certain surrogacy benefit that you can get only from an agency.

Constant support aligned with counseling

The surrogacy journey includes the tedious process of legal and medical proceedings, intended parents may find the process emotionally challenging as it takes time and they do not have complete control over responsibility for the surrogate’s pregnancy.

The support and counseling services can be beneficial for the intended parents and surrogate as an agency works to manage the relationship between both parties throughout the uncertainties of the process. Also, the agency makes sure both parties undergo a session with a counselor to determine whether they are ready to embark on the procedure of surrogacy emotionally.

Additionally, in situations like delay in embryo transfer, legal complications, or medical emergencies with surrogates any hurdles that come along an agency will ensure it is solved immediately.

Legal procedure

Surrogacy laws vary from each state, and every country has different regulations for this treatment. Intended parents would have to determine the legal requirements by themselves in the case of private surrogacy. Meanwhile, an agency assures 100% legal protection by assisting an attorney.

Every surrogacy process is incomplete with a surrogacy contract, furthermore, after the birth of the child, the intended parents would have to apply in court to obtain a parentage order i.e. a process to change the names of parents on the child’s birth certificate.

Now, every state would have different proceedings for a parenting order. Few states would allow pre-birth orders, while few only permit post-birth orders. Intended parents who undergo private surrogacy will have to determine whether their surrogate’s state is surrogacy-friendly and accepts surrogacy agreements and related factors.

Surrogacy coordination, planning, and management

Intended parents that work with an agency benefit from getting perfectly planned surrogacy with complete coordination between all the individuals involved. A surrogacy expert will overlook the management of all the services, and coordinate the procedure by providing qualified experts to intended parents like lawyers, IVF specialists, and medical experts.

Additionally, an expert will educate the intended parents about the different proceedings of surrogacy. In private surrogacy, intended parents need to independently reach out to different professionals which can be difficult to find a suitable one, especially a qualified surrogate.

Bottom Line

Whether you consider going through the surrogacy journey by yourself or with an agency both will lead to achieving your parenthood. The only difference is, while you save money by handling the entire process independently an agency ensures everything is completed on time and intended parents have a hassle-free and smooth surrogacy experience.

For more information, have a look at this video. Our expert addresses the topic – Private or independent surrogacy vs surrogacy with an agency to solve your queries.