Overview of the Surrogacy Process

The Surrogacy Process

A possibility to register newborn at the intended parents’ home country should be among the first stages in the surrogacy process.

The Surrogacy Process

Parents Life strongly advise the intended parents to dig inside the surrogacy process.

The surrogacy process begins with an initial consultation, where the intended parents receive all details about the stages of their fertility treatment and related organizational, legal, and financial issues. Although Parents Life offer remote appointments by E-mail, phone or via online consultation, others insist on a personal meeting with the intended parents.

Whenever working with foreign couples, a request to the relevant consulate to explain a possibility to register newborn delivered through the surrogacy process at the intended parents’ home country should be among the first stages in the surrogacy process. Whilst Parents Life is completely seeking after that, unfortunately not all market players in Ukraine are mindful to this essentially important matter within the surrogacy process.

It is worth noting, however, that the market players not offering such consular support to foreign couples are not in breach of the Ukrainian law. Indeed, it is difficult to register a child in a particular country. The market players should simply inform the intended parents about such issue but nonetheless organize and carry out the surrogacy process. Parents Life think that if a child’s registration at the intended parents’ home country does not seem possible, the surrogacy in Ukraine should not be offered.

Discover Medical Reasons to Use a Surrogate

Indications For Surrogacy

Parents Life makes every effort to exceed intended parents’ expectations providing them with the highest level of fertility treatment.

Implementation of surrogacy in Ukraine is just doable for medical reasons.

Accordingly, a fertility specialist must determine the effectiveness of fertility treatment and insufficient medical contraindications for such according to health background and test results.

Matching Is the Most Exciting Part of Your Journey

Matching Of A Surrogate

Learn more about Parents Life’ extensive process for matching surrogates to the intended parents. Parents Life offers 2 to 3 candidates for consideration.

The next important step is the matching of a surrogate.

Parents Life provides the intended parents with access to database of prospective surrogate candidates, which generally includes phenotypic characteristics, blood type and occupation, along with a photo.

Parents Life sometimes may also offer an in depth outcomes of a psychological test performed by a surrogate candidate. The intended parents usually review database at surrogacy agency’s office, however in Parents Life situation, matching of a surrogate from database is conducted by Parents Life individually. After a preliminary agreement of a prospective surrogate with the intended parents, Parents Life arranges an in-person meeting. Most frequently, Parents Life offers 2 to 3 candidates for consideration by the intended parents.

Time required for selection can vary but usually it takes a couple of weeks.

Different market players have different methods of the preliminary investigation of candidates for surrogates and concepts of database creation. Perhaps the most favorable but most expensive alternative is to point out candidates who have been fully tested and who currently have experience in carrying a child as a surrogate. Parent Life usually does in this way. Generally, the period of relationships between a prospective surrogate and surrogacy agency determines how well the latter can assess reliability, exactness and diligence of a potential surrogate. Other market players may offer candidates who have gone only through an initial testing or no testing whatsoever, hoping that the full one will be fulfilled after the initial approval of a potential surrogate.

This practice can result in an extended selection process and a need to sift via a higher number of candidates before a definitive match can be done.

Parents Life can offer matching of a surrogate based on intended parents’ additional needs as well. These extra criteria might be, for instance, verbal skills, residing in an environmentally friendly area, religion or education level.

Very popular are surrogates with medical or paramedical backgrounds simply because they follow all medical prescriptions more consciously and consistently. Matches for a surrogate according to such additional criteria will require some additional time.

Sometimes intended parents can suggest their own candidate for a surrogate. In such cases, Parents Life may offer background checks, including validation of private and medical data of a surrogate, looking for alcohol or substance abuse or addiction in the past, good repute for mental disorders, information on a criminal history and collecting details about the people residing along with a potential surrogate, understanding her living conditions, and other useful information.

Parents Life also offers a selection of sperm or oocyte donors.

For instance, some IVF clinics in Ukraine do not think about the process of donor gamete selection to become a separate compensated service, while Parents Life always provides this particular service (at extra cost).

Step-by-Step Through the IVF Cycle

IVF Treatment Procedure

There are various steps involved in the intended parents’ IVF treatment procedure. We will tell you all you want to know about those steps.

The intended parents and a surrogate undergo further testing and then the menstrual cycles of the intended parent (oocyte source) and a surrogate are synchronized under the supervision of the fertility specialist. Afterwards takes place the IVF treatment procedure accompanied by a transfer of embryo (-s) towards the uterus of a surrogate.

The Ukrainian legislation limits the number of embryo transfer to a maximum of 2 embryos per treatment cycle.

The intended parents decide of how many embryos should be transferred (1 versus 2) to a surrogate according to advice of their fertility specialist. This decision should not be based only on the common basis of thinking that assumes the more embryos transferred, the greater is outcome of getting pregnant. Even though this logic is correct, additional factors should be considered as well – with the higher quantity of embryos transferred, the risk of multiple pregnancy and related complications increases, as well.

The ART in Ukraine is constantly developing and the overall efficiency of the IVF cycles is constantly on the increase.

The process of selective transfer of 1 embryo is thus gaining popularity, for the surrogacy cases, in particular. The efficiency of the strategy depends upon the level of embryology laboratory support and the usage of the embryo selection method.

For example, in Ukraine some IVF clinics offer such embryo selection techniques as morphogenetic selection and preimplantation genetic screening (trophectoderm biopsy and 24-chromosome test by comparative genome hybridization).

Probably the most viable embryos remaining after the transfer to a surrogate can be cryopreserved and stored for several years. The Intended parents should consider the method that the IVF clinic uses to do the cryopreservation of embryos.

Perhaps the most effective technique is vitrification and most of the large IVF clinics in Ukraine use this method.

If a pregnancy is not achieved after embryo transfer within the “fresh” IVF cycle, then frozen embryos could be transferred. This method eliminates the need for synchronization of cycles. For example, the intended parents can visit Ukraine for any relatively small period; perform IVF until the stage of embryo vitrification and go back home.

The IVF clinic can use these embryos and transfer them to a surrogate without worrying about the intended parents.

Recently, with vitrification, the effectiveness of the frozen embryo transfer has increased significantly and is not considered inferior to “fresh” IVF cycles.

Getting the Right Prenatal Care Is Important

Prenatal Care To A Surrogate

A surrogate will have various tests to make sure the intended parents’ baby is growing healthy and that a surrogate is healthy too.

After getting pregnant, a surrogate may, based on the conditions specified in the surrogacy agreement, either remain staying at her home or proceed to a condo rented for her by the intended parents. A choice of the intended parents to share accommodation with a surrogate during her pregnancy is also possible. Parents Life offer the intended parents an assistance in organizing housing plans.

Prenatal care to a surrogate could be supplied by a public maternity hospital or in a private IVF clinic for an extra cost.

If a surrogate does not live in the place of usual residence during her pregnancy, a nearby maternity hospital might will not register her. Therefore, Parents Life in such instances is able to provide legal assistance in registering a surrogate with a public maternity hospital. Parents Life also will help to arrange a prenatal care in a private IVF clinic.

Even when the prenatal care is supplied in a private IVF clinic, a surrogate should still register with a public maternity hospital as this enables a surrogate to get a compensated-leave stipend associated with her pregnancy, giving birth in the 30-week of pregnancy.

The Ukrainian legislation stipulates that just public maternity hospitals can provide a pregnant woman with an “exchange card”, which contains all of the medical details about her pregnancy.

This card is a mandatory document for admission of a surrogate in the maternity hospital.

In addition, Parents Life offer services to monitor execution of the surrogacy agreement terms by a surrogate. Within this situation, a supervisor will be used to verify that a surrogate follows all medical prescriptions and suggestions and to control if she is taking medications as scheduled and undergoing all necessary tests and operations. The services of this type could be relevant prior to the IVF procedure and through her pregnancy.

When the supervisor finds a breach of the surrogacy agreement terms by a surrogate, this is often registered inside a special deed.

The supervisor will also prepare regular reports and inform the intended parents about the health of a surrogate. Parents Life offers additional services supplied by the supervisor, including helping a surrogate to cope with everyday issues, mental counseling, support during IVF clinic visits, shopping, walking and other relevant issues.

Additionally to supervisor services, the supply of medical support and coordination of a surrogacy program will also be extremely popular.

Whatever are the services that the intended parents have requested from the medical institutions, they might require an independent expert opinion within the field of ART, in addition to coordination of numerous stages from the overall surrogacy arrangement. An expert counselor from Parents Life can be a representative in different medical facilities, assist in selecting of OB/GYN, fertility specialist, along with other specialists, if required.

What Will Happen to Your Newborn Right after Delivery

Immediate Newborn Care At Birth

If you are a first-time parent, put your fears aside and get the basics straight first of how to “survive” those early weeks with a newborn.

Parents Life helps to choose an OB/GYN and arranges a delivery for a surrogate in a public maternity hospital. Some IVF clinics also offer delivery services that belong to their private maternity hospitals. The main benefit of the non-public maternity hospitals may be in the client-oriented approach and more comfortable conditions for maternity patients. However, the price of private maternity hospitals is going to be significantly higher than of the public-controlled ones.

The availability of the intended parents in the delivery process is not mandatory. The intended parents may take a newborn within the period specified in the surrogacy agreement. At the request of the intended parents, it is also possible to organize a so called “partner delivery”, supplying another room within the maternity hospital to stick with a surrogate.

However, some public maternity hospitals might not provide a partner delivery service. This detail should be agreed at the stage of selection of a maternity hospital.

It is also essential to get a written consent of a surrogate for a cesarean section delivery ahead of time, as this need is frequently difficult to forecast.

Only a surrogate has the right to take a newborn from a maternity hospital. At discharge, she will be issued a medical birth certificate by which she will be appointed as a mother of a newborn. This document is needed to register a newborn with the state registration authority that will issue a birth certificate by which the intended parents will be specified as the only legal parents of a newborn.

It is recommended to check the genetic relationship between a newborn and the intended parents. However, some market players do not routinely offer the DNA genetic test, while Parents Life can do one on the intended parents’ request (at extra cost).

A Surrogacy Comes With Certain Risks

Potential Surrogacy Risks

Prior to beginning a surrogacy process, Parents Life strongly recommends that a surrogate discuss all potential surrogacy risks associated with the surrogacy process.

The following adverse occasions can occur at various stages of a surrogacy process: complications during performance of the ART procedures with an intended mother (oocyte source), failure of a surrogate to get pregnant, multiple or ectopic pregnancy of a surrogate, spontaneous abortion, and risk for a surrogate while pregnant and delivery, birth of a newborn with abnormalities.

All perils of a nonmedical nature should be included in the surrogacy agreement between the intended parents and a surrogate.

Handling Legal Support Of Surrogacy Process

Legal Support Of Surrogacy

Parents Life offers a reasonably wide range of legal services to assist both a surrogate and thee intended parents in the surrogacy process.

Inside the framework of a surrogacy program, the parties must formalize legal and financial relationships. In this regard, Parents Life offers a reasonably wide range of legal services to assist both sides in the surrogacy arrangement. Most frequently, such legal services include:

  • Drafting of the surrogacy agreement between a surrogacy program participants or expert overview of the current surrogacy agreement,
  • Legal counsel and support at the meetings between a surrogacy program participants,
  • Drafting and notarization of the consent of surrogate’s husband to her participation in a surrogacy program,
  • Drafting and notarization of surrogate’s consent to registering the intended parents as the newborn’s legal parents at the state registration authorities,
  • Assistance in the newborn’s registration with the state registration authorities,
  • Assistance in the preparation of documents for submission to the consulate and immigration services.
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