Twelve questions to ask any surrogacy agency, including us

Choosing an agency is the first large decision of a surrogacy journey, and one of the hardest to reverse. Most agencies have warm websites and kind staff. What separates them is how they answer specific questions. Here are the twelve we would ask, and the answers you should hope to hear.

Money

1. Who holds the money for our surrogate?

The answer should be a licensed, bonded escrow company that is independent of the agency. Ask, directly, whether the agency or anyone connected to it has any ownership or financial interest in the escrow company. In several fraud cases, agencies either held client funds themselves or secretly controlled the escrow company that did.

2. Can we see the escrow account ourselves?

You should have your own access to the escrow company’s portal and receive a statement for every transaction, rather than relying on the agency to tell you what has been paid.

3. What is your fee, what does it include, and when is each part due?

Ask for the full schedule in writing, including any application, matching, rematch, sibling-journey or “international” fees. A fee that is mostly due before a match is a cash-flow risk for you.

4. What happens to our money if you can’t match us?

Some retainers are non-refundable regardless of how long you wait. Ask what the agency commits to, in how many months, and what is refunded if it misses.

Screening and matching

5. What does every surrogate complete before we see her profile?

Expect records review for every prior pregnancy, background checks for her and the adults in her home, and a home or support interview. Ask which criteria are stricter than the American Society for Reproductive Medicine’s guidance.

6. How do you match on the difficult questions?

Views on embryo transfer numbers, testing, and termination or selective reduction must align before a match, not be discovered after. Ask how the agency establishes this.

7. What will our surrogate be told about us?

The best practice is full disclosure: who you are, where you live, and whether you have other journeys underway. It protects everyone, and a relationship that begins honestly is sturdier.

8. How long does matching actually take right now?

Ask for the recent range, not the best case, and what would make yours longer.

People and process

9. Who will we speak to, and how many journeys do they manage?

A coordinator stretched across too many families cannot be responsive. Ask for a name and a caseload.

10. Do we and our surrogate have independent attorneys we choose?

Each side should have its own counsel, and the agency should not receive referral fees from law firms, clinics, or anyone else it recommends.

11. What happens if the first transfer doesn’t work, or our surrogate isn’t cleared?

Ask how further transfers are handled and paid, and whether a rematch carries another fee.

12. What will you put in writing?

Promises on a website are not the same as terms in an agreement. Ask which commitments are in the contract you will sign.

Our own answers

We publish ours. Our fee is $36,000, on a published schedule; surrogate funds are held in independent escrow; and our commitments are written into every agreement as the Angel Heart Surrogacy Standard.