Surrogacy Process
Step-By-Step Surrogacy Process for Intended Parents
Whether you're meeting your surrogate for the first time or getting the notification that labor has begun, every milestone in the surrogacy timeline takes you closer to the biggest event of all: bringing your baby home.
The length of the surrogacy process depends on your personal preferences and situation, but an average journey takes about 25-30 months. Every journey is different and on its own timeline, and our experienced team will be by your side for the duration of your surrogacy.
1
Consultation and Sign On
1-3 Months
2
Matching With Your Surrogate
Time Varies
3
Medical and Legal
3-4 Months
4
Pregnancy
9 Months
5
Parenthood
Birth & Beyond
5 Steps in the Surrogacy Process
We specialize in gestational surrogacy: a form of surrogacy where the surrogate (or carrier) has no genetic connection to the child. While intended parents often prefer this method to traditional surrogacy, finding a suitable surrogate adds a few more steps to the process.
While the timeline may seem complicated, we recommend looking at the full journey in five steps. We coordinate every step so you can rest assured knowing that the legal, medical, and financial processes are managed by one experienced team.
Our goal is to ensure you understand what the process entails, and what you can expect during each milestone, as well as approximate timing. Remember, the surrogacy process is unique for everyone, so timing may not be exact for your journey. That said, 99.1% of our parents go home with a baby, no matter what their journey looks like.
1
Consultation and Sign On
1-3 Months
Consult with agency
Sign agreement for services
Intro video call with team
Match with egg donor (if needed)
Create embryos
The surrogacy process for intended parents starts with a consultation. We take the time to answer all your questions and give you an overview of how surrogacy works. Once you've signed on with Circle as your surrogacy agency, we'll introduce you to your Matching Specialist, who will work closely with you to find the right surrogate match. If you already have an IVF clinic selected, we'll connect with your clinic; if you haven’t selected an IVF clinic yet, we'll help you choose one. We have long-standing relationships with many well-known clinics around the country to make this step smoother.
Should you need an egg donor to grow your family, our team is ready to walk alongside you through the process. Circle offers an in-house egg donor database of thoroughly screened fresh donors and maintains trusted partnerships with third-party agencies and clinics if you prefer a frozen donor or are seeking options beyond our donor pool.
If you already have embryos created, you are all set until your surrogate match. If you need to create embryos, you will do so at this point in time.
2
Matching With Your Surrogate
Time Varies
Matching process & approval
Intro video call with surrogate
Start journey to pregnancy
In the matching stage, you'll find the amazing woman who will help you grow your family! All of our surrogates are fully vetted in our 3-step screening process. We've screened 150,000+ surrogate applicants, with 4% of them approved each year to ensure intended parents are matched with surrogates who are fully prepared for the experience.
Our Matching Specialists carefully pair intended parents and fully vetted surrogates for a journey based on our MatchMade™ process. Our proprietary approach considers genuine compatibility and helps establish the foundation for a healthy relationship between all parties.
Once you're matched with a surrogate, we'll introduce you to your Journey Coordination team who will take the time to explain the upcoming surrogacy steps and process in detail so you fully understand what to expect at each milestone. This will also be the team who manages your surrogacy journey and supports you every step of the way. Your team consists of Program Coordinators/Managers, a lawyer, an accountant, and a medical billing specialist.
3
Medical and Legal
3-4 Months
Surrogate medical screening
Embryo transfer
Beta tests
During the medical & legal phase of the surrogacy process, there are many mini milestones of your journey.
First, your gestational surrogate will go to your IVF clinic for her medical screening. This is a day of testing and examinations with your IVF doctor, which can consist of blood tests, sonograms, and ultrasounds. Sometimes, intended parents will go to the clinic as well and meet their surrogate in person for the first time. Depending on your surrogate's location, this may require her to travel, which will factor into your overall costs.
After the medical screening — and once your surrogate has been cleared by your IVF doctor — your gestational surrogate will receive her protocol and begin her medications and monitoring at her local clinic. Because your surrogate will be required to check in with the clinic often to ensure her body is responding to the medications, she will do this at a clinic that is close to where she lives (this is also called "local monitoring"). Circle and your IVF clinic will work together to find the best clinic and make these arrangements for you.
During this time, you will also be working with your lawyer to draft the Carrier Agreement (surrogacy contract), while your surrogate works with her own lawyer. Intended parents and surrogates each have their own legal counsel to work through the Carrier Agreement. This step could take a few weeks as both parties negotiate the terms of the contract.
This is when the clinic determines that your surrogate is ready for her embryo transfer. She will travel to your IVF clinic — we usually recommend a 4-7 day trip. Intended parents can attend this milestone in person and spend time with their surrogate and her support person. After the transfer, your surrogate will return home and once again have regular appointments at her local clinic for her beta tests until there is hopefully a confirmed pregnancy (approximately 10-14 days after embryo transfer). At 6 weeks, she will visit her clinic for an ultrasound and confirmation of heartbeat.
4
Pregnancy
9 Months
Ultrasound check-ins
Create birth plan
Establish parental rights
Hospital and delivery prep
Your baby's birth!
Regular Ultrasounds
Your surrogate will transition from her local clinic to her chosen OBGYN who will perform ultrasounds during the pregnancy. Many intended parents try to attend such appointments if they are able.
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10 Weeks: Surrogate transitions to her OBGYN
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16-20 Weeks: a 3-D ultrasound (anatomy scan) will be performed
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16-20 Weeks: Discover the gender of your baby
Birth Plan and Parental Rights
Towards the second half of the pregnancy, intended parents will begin working on two important documents: their birth plan and their parental rights. The birth plan is created with your surrogate to outline what delivery day will look like and include everyone's preferences for the day. Your Circle support team can help you put this document together to ensure everyone’s hopes for delivery day are captured. You'll also begin to establish your parental rights with your lawyer and local counsel (in the state where your surrogate is delivering).
And don’t forget about the fun stuff as you prepare to bring home your baby: decorating the nursery, booking travel for delivery, and packing baby’s first outfits for travel home.
5
Parenthood
Birth & Beyond
Soak up the "new parent" wonderfulness
Obtain baby's passport (if needed)
Say goodbye to your surrogate and her family
Travel home
It has been an emotional journey, and you're finally holding your baby in your arms, and inhaling that amazing new baby smell!
When the doctor releases your baby from the hospital, you are free to take your baby home. It can be hard to believe — the hospital is entrusting you with this very small baby! Your Circle support team will be there to walk alongside you through these early days, remind you of any tasks to be completed (such as adding your baby to your health insurance), and answer any and all questions.
U.S. parents usually travel home shortly after they are released — usually a few days — either by car or plane. International parents may stay in the U.S. for up to 4 weeks (or longer) after the baby's birth to finalize travel and obtain the baby's passport if needed. How long you stay in your baby’s birth city is up to you; some parents stay longer to spend time with their surrogate and her family, while others return home to start their “baby routine." Learn more about traveling with a newborn in our blog post.
An Emotional Journey Home
Saying “goodbye” to your surrogate can bring a range of emotions, and every family experiences it differently. Some parents don't say a final goodbye and choose to stay in contact with their surrogate after they head home. Others find that a heartfelt last goodbye feels right. There's no single way that this moment should look, and no matter what, we'll be there to support you.
We understand that the journey home can feel a bit overwhelming — there's so much to coordinate and think about. For this very reason, intended parents choose to work with Circle and our experienced and passionate team to help manage every step of the journey.
The timeline for surrogacy varies, depending primarily on how long it takes to match with a surrogate. After being matched, the medical and legal steps take 3 to 4 months. The IVF cycle itself typically lasts about 6 weeks. Following a successful embryo transfer, the pregnancy and delivery will take approximately 40 weeks. It's important to note that individual circumstances can affect this timeline.
Finding a compatible surrogate usually takes anywhere from a couple of weeks to a few months, but the answer to this is different for every journey. Regardless of how long it takes, our team will be by your side to support you and manage finances through our Journey Protection™ Program.
Circle conducts thorough screening processes for all potential surrogates to ensure they are physically, mentally, and emotionally prepared for the journey. This screening includes comprehensive medical evaluations, psychological assessments, and background checks. These screenings are designed to protect the health and well-being of both the surrogate and the future child and ensure a successful surrogacy journey for all parties involved.
MatchMade™ is our proprietary approach to surrogate-intended parent matching. We see a strong relationship among all involved parties as critical to a successful surrogacy experience, which is why we take the time to rigorously evaluate surrogate applicants and carefully match you with one who is compatible with your goals and lifestyle. Learn more about how it works here.
With a 94% surrogate match rate, most matches move forward smoothly. But if your initial surrogate doesn't work out, we go back to the MatchMade™ process and try again. While this may affect how long the surrogacy process takes overall, our Journey Protection™ Program prevents you from incurring additional costs.
Circle offers comprehensive legal support throughout the entire surrogacy process. Our team includes experienced attorneys specializing in reproductive law who draft and review surrogacy agreements, secure parental rights, and navigate any potential legal issues that may arise.
When you choose Circle, one team manages every aspect of your surrogacy journey. Even for the parts of the process we do not complete directly, like IVF, we have a nationwide network of connections to help you find the right organizations to support you through your experience. All you have to do is tell us what you want, and we will find the resources that best align with your goals and coordinate care so you can focus on building your family.
From the moment you decide surrogacy is the right path for you, we will be by your side. As an agency, we have supported 3,400+ families, and we know from experience what they need at every stage of the process. We make sure you understand every option available to you, and 44% of our team have first-hand fertility experience. So, when we say we understand what you're going through, we mean it.No — while we are not an IVF clinic ourselves, we can help you find the right clinic for you. We have worked with IVF centers around the country, and we will connect you with your best option and make the introduction to ensure a seamless surrogacy process.
The cost of surrogacy for intended parents can vary greatly depending on the avenue you pursue. Circle's unique Journey Protection™ Program gives you one fixed price from the start, because your peace of mind matters to us.
Our surrogacy-only program costs $189,500 — no unexpected fees or cost increases. We know this experience is full of moving parts, and we make sure cost isn't one of them, allowing you to plan for the journey and beyond in advance. You can see a full breakdown of the price on our surrogacy costs page, but know that it includes every expense associated with the steps above, including:
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Medical and legal costs
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Surrogate base pay
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Unlimited embryo transfers
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Comprehensive agency support
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Surrogacy Process FAQs
Below are some common questions about the surrogacy process. You can read our full list of FAQs about the general surrogacy process from intended parents here.
Take The First Step
The process of surrogacy takes time, patience, and support. We've helped welcome over 4,000 babies into the world, bringing together families and surrogates wherever they call home. Learn how to start the surrogacy process today — inquire with our team and let's take the first step toward parenthood through surrogacy, together.