a note from john
John Weltman,
CS's President
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Dear friends,
Welcome you to the winter 2007 edition of our newsletter for friends and families of Circle Surrogacy. Along with the joy of witnessing the growing number of births in our program (see our "Surrogate Update" page), I am pleased with some good news on the political and societal fronts. Among these is the powerful report by the leading authority in reproductive medicine in the USA, The American Society for Reproductive
Medicine, stating that licensed professionals have an obligation "to treat all requests for assisted reproduction equally without regard to marital status or sexual orientation."
With the perspective of more than a decade of being a gay parent and helping many others in the process, progress in societal acceptance of our right and value as families seems evident and almost inevitable. There is continuous media interest in our families and for the most part it is very positive (in fact we collected many clips from such coverage on a channel we set up on YouTube...).
We have been contributing to the growing awareness of gay families by sponsoring events such as the recent "Men Having Babies" seminar in NY. Along with several parents and surrogates from our programs, we have also been invited to speak at events in Connecticut, Boston, Maryland, Philadelphia, Florida, and even Israel. In many such events I find that the issue of societal acceptance of our families is very much on the minds of prospective parents.
Indeed with my kids already 13 and 11 years old, I also have concerns about school environments where "gay" is often a generalized derogatory term.
However, in the broad picture, I am amazed at how well society has treated our kids so far, and it is evident in their ability and motivation to deal and brush off such lingering prejudices. I truly believe that by the time your kids are 13, the state of affairs will be even better, and not just in large cities like Boston and New York (we now have clients in dozens of cities in the US, Europe, Israel, Australia and more). For prospective parents the important thing is to have
confidence in our ability and right to be parents. I genuinely believe this confidence and self possession is best passed on to our kids through our own honesty and openness with the kids from the outset about their different but equally valid family conception and structure. For my part I am ever more confident of this every time I get to meet any of the hundreds of wonderful kids our program has helped to conceive!
John.
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
 Florida prospective parents are invited to attend one of our several events in March, including seminars in the Miami /Ft. Lauderdale and Orlando regions, on the weekend of March 23-25. For more information contact Bridget.
Family Pride will be throwing their second annual Buffet dinner and Cocktails party at Tavern on the Green / New York on Wednesday, March 14, from 6 - 9pm.
Tickets are $175.
Better Than Mary Poppins!
Highly recommended NYC nanny who worked with a gay family is becoming available in March. Mark & Erik, former CS clients, report that she is nurturing, loving, conscientious, and has a strong commitment to the children getting outside exercise. As the primary female figure in their daughter's lives, she has been everything they wished for and more. For more information, please contact Erik at 917
324 6579 or Mark at 917 562 4495.
Considering parenthood? Center Kids in NY has a monthly program called "Planning Biological Parenthood for Gay Men". The group provides an opportunity to discuss the various aspects of surrogacy and egg donation faced by gay men. The group is also an opportunity to get together with other men considering fatherhood, share information, provide mutual
support,
and to build a network of gay dads. Special events and similar groups are also available in other regions. For information email Ron.
 NEW: Circle Surrogacy now has a channel on YouTube! Check it out for an archive of surrogacy and gay parenting related videos, and links to similar content on other channels. If you have any clips to suggest please contact us and we will be happy to include them or link directly to your channel.
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IN THE NEWS
Circle Surrogacy couple featured in 2005 New York Times article have twins from same surrogate
Lura Stiller, the CS surrogate who carried Samantha for Rick and Cary three years ago, has just delivered twins for the same couple. The family was featured in a New York Times article in 2005 (see below) about relationships between gay couples and their surrogates.
Samantha's little brother and a sister, Jeremy and Maggie, were born 11/16/06. Lura delivered the twins via c-section and all are doing great.
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Circle Surrogacy sponsors "Men Having Babies" seminar in New York
 On November 19, 2006, Circle Surrogacy co-sponsored for the second year a special program for New York area gay men who want to have babies. The program was hosted by Center Kids, the family program of the NY LGBT Community Center. The panel included John Weltman, CS's president, one of our parents,
Mike and his surrogate Dustin, among others.
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WGBH features Circle Surrogacy couple, surrogate and president in television report
WGBH, Boston's public broadcasting station, recently aired a story about Circle Surrogacy clients, the Andersons, who they describe as part of a growing number of male gay couples who chose surrogacy to become parents. John Weltman, CS's president, states in an interview for the show that while only "4-10% of the gay population that's having children today is doing it through surrogacy",
the numbers are growing enormously.
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The American Society for Reproductive Medicine:
Gays and unmarried persons should not be denied access to fertility services
An important report has just been released by the leading authority in reproductive medicine in the USA, The American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM). In the November issue of "Fertility
and Sterility", the Ethics Committee
of the ASRM published a report titled:
"Access to fertility treatment by gays, lesbians,and unmarried persons". The report was written in response to the "notable trend for lesbian women and couples and, increasingly, for single and coupled gay men, to have offspring, most commonly through some form of assisted reproduction."
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FEATURES
IVF Maximizes Parenthood Choices for Gay Men
Third article: Choosing a Gestational Carrier
 By Dr. Doyle, Connecticut Fertility Associates
In previous articles here I focused on two crucial decisions intended parents face on their road to fatherhood: the number and biological makeup of the embryos to be used in the process, and the selection of an egg donor. In the third article in this series I am focusing on choices involved in selecting a gestational carrier.
How can you determine who would be the perfect match for you? What questions should you ask yourselves? And her ? And why might one carrier be a better fit for you than another?
go to article...
 Surrogacy Update
January and February already put us at more than double of last year's birth and pregnancy rates. Check out our recent deliveries and pregnancies, as well as current and upcoming cycles. We also include some birth announcements from couples who gave us permission to post their pictures. Please send us yours to include in future editions!
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Meet the Staff: BRIDGET WASHINGTON, LCSW
Program Coordinator /Social Worker
I am thrilled to be a member of the Circle Surrogacy team. I graduated from Syracuse University, Cum Laude with a Psychology degree and obtained my Masters in Social Work from Boston University also graduating Cum Laude. I have several years of experience in assessing and supporting children and families in a variety of settings. I enjoy being a part of the multidisciplinary
approach to facilitating
the egg donation and surrogacy process and helping to create families.
About Circle Surrogacy
Since 1995, Circle Surrogacy has helped bring to the world over 200 babies. Its dedicated staff of professionals is made up of lawyers, social workers, parents through surrogacy, surrogates and past clients. Circle Surrogacy provides a choice of specialized clinics at locations throughout the country, a large selection of egg donors, swift matching with carefully screened surrogates, and a variety of flexible programs and financial options to suit its clients unique family choices.
John Weltman, owner, founder is a Yale graduate and a nationally recognized expert in the field of reproductive law, including surrogacy and gay parenting.
Home page...
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