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Surrogacy

At KFI, we understand that gestational surrogacy comes with many questions and mixed emotions. Trusting someone else to carry and deliver your child requires a significant leap of faith. That's why we take the time to ensure you feel comfortable and supported throughout this complex journey.

It's important to note that your gestational carrier (surrogate) will not have any biological relationship with your child. You will provide the egg and sperm, either from yourself and your partner or from donors. If you’d like to work with a known surrogate, like a sibling or close friend, our experienced team can provide their counseling and screening to ensure they will be a good partner on your family-building journey. Alternatively, we can collaborate with trusted agencies to help you find an outside surrogate if that would be a better fit for your family’s needs. Either way, our goal is to provide the highest-quality care to maximize the likelihood of a healthy, successful pregnancy.

Who Is a Good Candidate for Surrogacy?

The most common indication to consider a gestational carrier is when a woman does not have a healthy uterus and is unable to carry a pregnancy herself. There can be multiple reasons for this, including prior infection, excessive scar tissue, poor endometrial development, or advanced fibroid disease. Additionally, surrogacy is available to women who were born without a uterus or have undergone a prior hysterectomy. This can also be an important option for women with chronic medical conditions that may complicate pregnancy, those with a history of recurrent miscarriage, or same-sex male couples or single men desiring children.

Finding the Right Gestational Carrier

Whether we screen a candidate you have in mind or use a surrogacy agency to identify prospective gestational carriers, our goal is to ensure a safe, smooth, and successful surrogacy journey for all parties involved. There are several important qualities to consider when selecting a surrogate, including:

• Physical health: Your surrogate must be healthy and have no significant medical history or chronic conditions. They should not be on any medications that would negatively impact a pregnancy.

• Emotional health: Your surrogate should be in good mental health and have healthy coping mechanisms. They will meet with a psychologist prior to matching to ensure they are fit for the emotional demands of this process.

• Healthy lifestyle: Your surrogate should enjoy a healthy lifestyle. They must be committed to avoiding alcohol, smoking, other risky behaviors.

• Experience: A surrogate should have a history of at least one prior successful pregnancy and delivery.

• Support system: Your surrogate should have a strong support system to help them through each step of the pregnancy journey.

• Communication and expectations: Your ideal surrogate should match your communication style and be upfront and transparent about their expectations.

The Surrogacy Process

Using a surrogate can seem daunting at first, but we’ll work with you through each stage of the journey. Once you select a gestational carrier candidate, they will undergo comprehensive medical and psychological screening to ensure they are an appropriate match for your needs. A reproductive attorney will assist in creating and executing a surrogacy contract to formalize the legal aspects of the process. This helps to ensure that a surrogate will not have parental rights to the child she carries and that the name(s) of the intended parent(s) will go on the birth certificate at the time of delivery.

Once all parties are on the same page, we will begin the in vitro fertilization (IVF) process. The embryo is created through IVF using the eggs and sperm of you and your partner, if applicable, or donors. We then transfer a fertilized embryo to the surrogate’s uterus. If the embryo implants successfully, the pregnancy should progress normally.