After receiving a welcome email from ISC with some informative documents attached, your first step is a consultation with one of our agency staff. During our presentation, we discuss the steps for surrogacy, our services, recommendations for attorneys or clinics if needed, and our fees, before answering any questions you may have. Based on the circumstances, this presentation takes place either in person, through Skype or over the phone — but always at your convenience.

If you like a surrogate’s profile, please let us know within 24 hours. Once we send a profile to you, we “reserve” that surrogate for you for 24 hours. If we do not hear from you, we will assume you are not interested, and she will be made available to other intended parents. If you are interested in a surrogate’s profile, we contact the surrogate and share your profile with her. If she is interested in your profile, we set up a Skype or in-person meeting so you all get to know one another.

The third step is to meet the surrogate, either in person or through Skype. Both parties ask questions to get an idea of how each person feels about the process and to get to know one another better. Once you have met and decided that you want to work with the surrogate, you send us an email confirming that you want to match with her, and we will ask her to do the same. If both parties agree, we consider you matched.

After you are matched with a surrogate, you must establish a client account through your attorney or an escrow account in the United States. We will suggest an escrow company that we work with frequently or you can speak with your attorney regarding the holding of your funds. This escrow account/client account covers the International Surrogacy Center fee, surrogacy compensations and any other expenses.

ISC notifies all the professional parties involved that your journey is ready to begin. We send a referral to the criminal background agency to do a background check on your surrogate and her spouse/partner (if applicable). We send a referral to our psychologist who will screen your surrogate and her spouse/partner (if applicable). We notify the attorney you have chosen to represent you, and we notify the matching surrogate’s attorney.

We submit the information provided by the surrogate for a criminal background of her and her spouse/partner (if applicable) to ensure that she does not have a criminal record. Following that, the surrogate undergoes a mental health screening to confirm that she is mentally stable to become a surrogate.

We submit your surrogate’s mental health screening result to the in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinic as soon as we receive it so her medical screening appointment can be scheduled. The IVF clinic contacts your surrogate and schedules her medical screening appointment based on where she is in her menstrual cycle.

Your surrogate’s health insurance covers her health care only throughout the surrogacy. It does not cover the baby (or babies) after birth. You have two options: (1) you can pay the hospital directly for the baby’s medical costs, or (2) you can purchase a separate health insurance policy for the baby/babies.

You may request that the surrogate undergo a 4D ultrasound between 26 and 34 weeks’ gestation. This is a fun and special ultrasound that shows your precious baby or babies sleeping or playing in 4D! The cost ranges from mid range depending on whether there is one baby or multiple babies, and the cost is covered by you. International Surrogacy Center supplies you and your surrogate with a list of locations near the surrogate that specialize in this ultrasound.

Expectant parent(s) may be present at the hospital during the delivery if your surrogate agrees. If she requires a Cesarean section, the doctor usually allows only one person in the room during the surgery. The surrogate informs us who she wants to be in the room with her if a C-section is required. Normally, having an intended parent in the room is not a problem, but the surrogate may want her own spouse or support person in the room with her for support in case of complications.

ISC provides information on how to apply for your baby’s birth certificate, passport and Social Security card. If you wish, a staff member from International Surrogacy Center will accompany you to these appointments to assist you in this process and help you obtain the required documents so you can travel home with your new baby/babies.