Once you make the decision to sign-up with a surrogacy agency, your surrogacy journey will begin interacting with a number of other professionals. These professionals could include people like agency case managers, fertility doctors, psychologists, lawyers, and escrow account managers. All of these industry professionals will be involved by varying degrees at different stages of your journey. It is important for you to have an understanding of how your relationship with these professionals and your Intended Parents could play out.
IVF Clinic/Physician
The IVF Clinic/Physician is hired first by your Intended Parents to assist them to have a child using their embryos. These physicians want to make their clients (the Intended Parents) happy and they are paid for their medical services by the Intended Parents. Many reproductive endocrinologists (also known as RE’s or IVF Physicians) tend to be surrogate agnostic, meaning they are not personally or emotionally invested in you individually. These doctors operate as a business and they are measured against other IVF clinics/physicians based on their fertility rates and pregnancy success rates. Each clinic and doctor is going to have their own “standards” that need to be met in order for them to clear you as a suitable surrogate candidate. This is designed to increase the likelihood that you will get pregnant. Make no mistake, they want to get you pregnant, and their incentives are aligned to do everything they can to get you pregnant on the first transfer. That looks good for them and for their pregnancy statistics. But, their ultimate concern is getting a Gestational Surrogate pregnant for the Intended Parents, which means they may decide (in their selective opinion) that you are not the best Surrogate for their clients. It is not personal; it’s just business. 
If the IVF physician chooses to medically clear you and to work with you, then you will become their patient. As a medical professional, they will be concerned with your medical needs and concerns. After all, they are treating you first. However, your Intended Parents will be the ones paying for all their medical services. Your surrogacy contract will give the Intended Parents access to the results of any screenings tests the physician wants you to undergo as part of your clearance process and then again when they prepare you for your embryo transfer. This access to information is important so the Intended Parents can make a decision with their medical team about moving forward with the match and proceeding with an embryo transfer. The physician and Intended Parents will decide, based on the information they have, if it is in the Intended Parents’ best interest to move forward with you as their Surrogate.
Psychologist/Mental Health Professional
Every surrogacy agency should require you to undergo a psychological evaluation prior to being matched (some states require it as a part of their surrogacy legal statutes). The surrogacy industry norm is to require a Surrogate and her partner (if any) to be evaluated by a mental health professional before being matched. This is part of the agency’s due diligence to vet and screen their surrogate candidates before offering them to potential Intended Parents for matching. If you are not required to undergo an evaluation before signing your surrogacy contract, then that should raise a red flag about the agency’s operational standards.
These mental health care providers are neutral providers and their goal is to look for indications that your participation in a surrogacy journey may be problematic. These providers don’t normally know who your Intended Parents will be, but their evaluation fees will be paid for, either directly or indirectly, by the Intended Parents. These mental health providers are doing their best to protect you, and your future match, from potential problems. But their evaluations are clinical; they are not personal. The agencies look to these medical providers to give them an unbiased assessment of your psychological and emotional state. The agencies want to make sure they don’t match their paying customers with Gestational Surrogates who might not be able to cope with the stresses and strains of a surrogacy journey.
Neutral Agency
The agency you sign up with will find itself in an interesting situation. They will have spent lots of time and energy recruiting you and they will want you to have an enjoyable experience with them. No surrogacy agency wants a Surrogate to have a bad experience. Negative reviews or bad press on surrogate forums will make it harder for them to recruit in the future. At the same time, the Intended Parents you are eventually matched with will be the paying customers. The agency makes their money by getting Intended Parents to sign up with them and get matched with their Surrogates. Agencies are businesses after all. Your case manager will do their best to coordinate your match and work with you throughout the journey. But, they are not meant to take sides. Just be aware that while they are there as a resource for you, they, or someone else at the agency, is also working with the Intended Parents at the same time. You can’t necessarily count on them to be in your corner and fighting for what is best for you. They have to be concerned with what is best for the overall match.
Your Attorney
Once you are officially matched and you are ready for your surrogacy contract, you will need an attorney to work with you. Your attorney will review the contract with you and explain the important legal terms. They will also go over the compensation package to make sure it matches with what you think you agreed to when you signed your agency contract and agency benefit package, or ask for changes if there are discrepancies. When it comes to the non-medical professionals involved in your journey (meaning the agency, escrow account managers, and attorneys), your attorney is the one you hopefully can count on to be looking out for you and your best interests. Your attorney is your advocate. They should be protecting you. 
Often times, Surrogates won’t know which attorney to work with. That is OK. Your agency will usually have a list of 1-5 attorneys they like to use. Sometimes they will just give you an attorney to work with. Keep in mind that you can always CHOOSE your own attorney; you don’t have to pick one from the agency’s list. Some agencies might refer you to the cheapest attorney they can find because that is a lower fee the Intended Parents have to pay, and that might be appealing to the Intended Parents. Just remember that the cheapest attorney for the agency/Intended Parents may not be the best attorney for you. The only requirement that most agencies will have is that your attorney needs to be familiar with surrogacy cases. So, don’t look to hire just any lawyer you might know, even if they are a “contract lawyer” since these kinds of contracts are very unique. There are additional things to consider when choosing your attorney that we will cover in a separate post.
Conclusion
Your surrogacy journey will interact with numerous professionals, all of whom want the match and the journey to be smooth and successful. The vast majority of professional providers in this industry are committed to the incredible opportunities surrogacy provides for desirous families. As the Surrogate, you are not responsible for paying the fees for these professional services. That is the Intended Parents’ responsibility. Therefore, it is important to know who you can turn to in those moments when your surrogacy journey takes a wrong turn, or goes through a dark patch. While all of us want your match to succeed and your journey to be enjoyable, when things get rough, you will want to know who is in your corner and who is looking out for your best interests.
▶ ▶▶ For more information and a no-cost consultation with Attorney James Mahan, please contact The Surrogate’s Corner!
