Surrogacy Process Overview

Welcome to Your Surrogacy Journey

Choosing to go on a surrogacy journey can change your life. It fills your life with hope, research and planning. From your first consultation to bringing your baby home, each step has important points to understand. You’ll go through many steps, some of these would be matching with a surrogate, going through legal and medical steps, IVF (in vitro fertilisation) and embryo transfer. Every journey is unique to the people involved so understanding the timeline can make a difference to anyone that is involved. Choosing the right agency, legal team, and emotional support, can help this complicated but beautiful path become a rewarding journey.

Surrogacy Process Overview

Surrogacy Timeline

Many people looking into surrogacy want to understand how long the journey can take to be able to take a baby home. Unfortunately, the exact process timeline is variable due to many different reasons and most journeys take 15 to 20 months.

Let’s break it down stage by stage.

Initial Steps: Consultation and Application

Estimated timeframe: 2 – 4 weeks

The beginning is important as this is where the journey starts for the intended parents. They contact a surrogacy agency or clinic and have an initial consultation with a surrogacy case manager. This consultation involves completing an application for surrogacy and the intended parents will provide their medical history, and discuss their preferences to match with a surrogate. The focus is to prepare the intended parents and help them understand the upcoming legal and medical steps. Here, it will also be confirmed if surrogacy is the right path.

Matching with a Surrogate

Estimated timeframe: 1 – 6 months 

The matching phase is the most varied stage as it can either happen as quickly as 4 weeks or take several months, depending on the location, availability of a surrogate and the preferences of the intended parents.

Throughout this step, the agencies organise detailed profiles of a surrogate mother and intended parents that include personal, medical and lifestyle information. They share the background information, and schedule a meeting between the two parties either face to face or online. If both of the parties are satisfied with each other, the journey begins.

Surrogate Screening and Legal Process

Estimated timeframe: 1 – 2 months

As soon as you have found a match and it is confirmed, the surrogate mother has a comprehensive medical screening, a psychological evaluation and a legal background check.

It’s important that both parties work with their own legal team to finalise a surrogacy agreement that outlines the compensation, any medical decisions, the parental rights and any contingency plans.

The aim of this stage is to legally protect everyone involved and fully inform them before the medical process begins. It also confirms that everyone involved is comfortable and satisfied with proceeding.

IVF Procedure and Embryo Transfer

Estimated timeframe: 1 – 2 months

This is the time for medical preparation, the gestational surrogate begins the hormone treatment to be able to synchronise with the intended mother or donor. During this step, the intended parents’ own egg and sperm are used to create the embryo, following the laws of the country where treatment occurs. In many countries, the use of donor eggs or sperm may not be allowed.

When the embryo is ready, it is transferred to the surrogate’s uterus. The next step is for the surrogate mother to have a pregnancy test, usually 10 – 14 days later and in many cases the first transfer is successful. However, if it is not successful, another transfer will be repeated around a month or two later.

Pregnancy Duration

Estimated timeframe: 9 months 

Now that the pregnancy has been confirmed, the process follows a typical timeline of a normal pregnant woman. However, the difference in the surrogacy process is throughout the 9 months, the surrogate will receive a higher amount of prenatal care and she will update the intended parents on a regular basis. She can attend medical appointments, ultrasounds which the intended parents can also be a part of, in some cases, intended parents are there for the birth too.

Delivery and Postpartum Care

Estimated timeframe: 2 – 4 weeks after birth 

You’ve now welcomed your baby in the world so the legal documents need to be finalised. Depending on the country or state you are in, it can include documents like parental rights orders, the birth certificate stating the intended parents’ names, passport and travel documents (especially for international families).

The surrogate will receive postpartum care and support and the baby will go home with their new parents.

Key Considerations for Intended Parents

Legal Aspects of Surrogacy

As you may already know and if you don’t, the law surrounding surrogacy varies from country to country or state to state if you are in the U.S. In international arrangements, a qualified legal professional must ensure parental rights, the child’s citizenship is fully secured, and the process complies with the laws of the country where the child will obtain citizenship. Intended parents should estimate their time efficiently, it is suggested that legal drafting can take 2 – 4 weeks, court processes, if they are needed, can take up to 2 months and post-birth documents that need to be issued can take 1 – 3 weeks.

Financial Planning for Surrogacy

Financial planning can also affect the timing and intended parents are advised to prepare a full surrogacy budget so they can be aware of the financial steps they need to be aware of, confirm their way of funding the surrogacy or loans in advance to start the process and allocate the time to setting up insurance and escrow payments.

Some agencies will not start matching you with a surrogate mother until finances are in place.

Choosing a Surrogacy Agency

When choosing a surrogacy agency, selecting the right one for you is very important. It can take a few weeks to a month to find the correct agency that satisfies your needs. When you are looking for a surrogacy agency, there are some important questions to ask yourself such as, do they have strong legal and medical partners, do they offer personalised matching, and do they have positive reviews and ethical standards? It’s also important to research their transparency about timelines.

The correct agency will help you save months by handling the paperwork, scheduling and any unexpected delays.

Support Systems for Surrogates

A surrogate will also experience a long journey, usually 12 – 18 months. Agencies offer a number of services for the surrogates to feel stable and comfortable throughout the journey. These can include but are not limited to psychological counselling, legal protection, detailed information of the compensation schedule, medical monitoring and post-birth recovery support.

If the surrogate mother is supported, it encourages a smoother journey for all the parties involved.

FAQs About the Surrogacy Process

How Long Does the Surrogacy Process Take?

As soon as the intended parents apply for surrogacy with an agency, it can take 15 – 20 months for you to have a baby in your arms and take them home. Although this can vary depending on your location and the individual factors, for most, this is a realistic estimate for people based in the U.S.

Is Surrogacy Legal Everywhere?

No, the law surrounding surrogacy differs between countries and states. For example, locations such as, Armenia, California and Florida have a well-established surrogacy framework, while others like the UAE (including Dubai), allow surrogacy under strict regulations such as having to be a married couple. There are also others that do not allow compensated arrangements and require court involvement.

Some of the international countries either ban surrogacy or only allow altruistic surrogacy. It’s crucial to speak with a legal expert wherever you are before starting the process.

What to Expect During the Process?

You can expect a multi-phase journey that involves legal paperwork, hormonal preparation, emotional ups and downs, teamwork between 4 – 6 professionals with doctors, lawyers or agencies and delays in the matching process or IVF. It’s key to have clear communication and patience with the process. Even though the surrogacy process can be long, it is very rewarding once you have your baby in your arms.