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The Ultimate Guide to Surrogacy in Hawaii

Growing your family through surrogacy is a path chosen by intended parents who dream of raising children. For women thinking about becoming surrogate mothers, surrogacy in Hawaii is a fulfilling option to help make those dreams come true. For both intended parents and surrogates, having an agency such as Circle Surrogacy to help navigate surrogacy’s milestones is invaluable. Circle is one of the most experienced surrogacy agencies in the U.S. and works with surrogates and intended parents in Honolulu, Hilo, and throughout the Hawaiian Islands.

 Table of Contents

Table of Contents

 An Overview of Surrogacy in Hawaii

An Overview of Surrogacy in Hawaii

As with many other states, Hawaii currently has no laws regulating surrogacy. Surrogacy professionals, however, have developed established procedures that the courts generally see as favorable for intended parents hoping to build their families in Hawaii using a gestational surrogate.

People considering surrogacy as a family-building option include couples and individuals from a variety of backgrounds, ages, and sexual orientations, each with a unique journey.

Intended parents in Hawaii we work with may be:

• Heterosexual couples who have struggled with infertility
• Intended mothers who are unable to carry a child
• Intended parents who have a genetic defect or health condition they don't want to pass onto the child
• LGBTQ+ intended parents who want to have a genetic link to their baby

If you’re considering surrogacy in Hawaii, this page is an excellent resource to learn more about what the state's surrogacy process involves, how to become parents or a surrogate mother, and what surrogacy costs.

Becoming a Parent Through Surrogacy in Hawaii

Circle Surrogacy—with offices across the United States, including 2 offices on the West Coast—has been helping straight and LGBTQ+ singles and couples in Hawaii and around the world grow their families through surrogacy and egg donation since 1995. Hawaii is considered a surrogacy-friendly state, and intended parents will find many top-rated IVF clinics on the West Coast.

Below you'll find information about surrogacy in Hawaii, including what the surrogacy process looks like, how much surrogacy costs, how to find a surrogate or egg donor, and so much more. The process can initially feel overwhelming, but the more you read and research, the more familiar it will become. Many professionals are involved in a surrogacy journey, and it is a life-changing experience.

We're ready to help intended parents in Hawaii, from Honolulu to Hilo and throughout the Hawaiian Islands.

The Surrogacy Process in Hawaii

The path to delivery day is marked by a series of milestones, both for intended parents and surrogate mothers. It’s important for everyone to understand and prepare for these steps.

If you’re intended parents who plan on pursuing your Hawaii surrogacy journey without the help of an agency, it’s still important to be aware of these milestones, and we encourage you to use this page as a resource. An independent surrogacy journey is an option for anyone and may be the right choice for you. There are multiple benefits in working with an agency such as Circle Surrogacy, which uses its more than 25 years of experience to support surrogates and help intended parents grow their families.

Choosing an Agency
If you decide to use a surrogacy agency, start by researching your options. Not all agencies are the same, and it’s essential to find one that meshes with your specific situation and how you envision your surrogacy journey to parenthood. Good chemistry, what some people describe as a gut feeling, is an important factor. You also want to ensure that the agency shares your views about the surrogacy process and make sure that it can connect you with lawyers who have expertise in ART (Assisted Reproductive Technology) and surrogacy law. This expertise is especially important in states such as Hawaii without specific surrogacy laws.
Finding a Surrogate and Egg Donor
Searching for a perfect surrogate match typically begins as soon as intended parents sign on with the agency. If intended parents require an egg donor, they may first match with an egg donor, or the surrogate and egg donor matching can happen concurrently. Matching with a donor in Hawaii is accomplished by using our egg donor database. Our Matching Team helps intended parents navigate the database, which includes details about bright and ambitious young women who are excited about the opportunity to help you grow your family.
Pregnancy and Parenthood
We encourage intended parents to develop close relationships with their gestational surrogates during pregnancy. This can take different forms. For example, if you live close to your surrogate, you can arrange to visit during her doctor’s appointments. Our agency supports you throughout the pregnancy, helping you prepare to travel for the birth and ensuring you have everything you need to return home safely.
 Starting the Surrogacy Process

Starting the Surrogacy Process

Once you’ve decided surrogacy is the way you want to grow your family (hooray!) and have selected an agency to meet with, the next step is scheduling a consultation. During a consultation, you have the chance to share your story, learn more about the surrogacy process, and get a sense of whether the agency team fits your needs and personality.

Circle Surrogacy offers complimentary consultations for intended parents who are emotionally and financially ready to begin a surrogacy journey within the next 12 months. These private consultations educate intended parents on surrogacy, costs, and how to find and match with a surrogate mother.

We offer both in-person meetings and free consultations via video. If you're not ready for a full consultation but would like more information, you can  schedule a short pre-consultation, which lasts about 30 minutes and is a great way to ask questions and learn more.

 Intended parents holding their new baby boy via Surrogacy, Silas

Becoming a Parent in Hawaii

The joy of welcoming a baby into your family is unlike any other moment. Becoming a parent through surrogacy in Hawaii is a safe, streamlined process when working with Circle Surrogacy. You can grow your family through surrogacy and/or  egg donation.

The cost of surrogacy is something all intended parents ask about. Our comprehensive cost sheets outline the surrogacy costs you should expect in a typical surrogacy journey.

How Much Does Surrogacy Cost in Hawaii?

Circle Surrogacy is dedicated to being transparent in the surrogacy options available to intended parents, the  costs, and what you can expect along your journey. This also includes information about how much you can expect to pay for egg donation.

Circle Surrogacy offers an all-inclusive cost program: our  Journey Protection Guarantee program.

Journey Protection Guarantee Program surrogacy costs in Hawaii:

Surrogacy only: $157,750
Surrogacy plus egg donation: $184,750
(both prices exclude IVF)


Our Journey Protection Guarantee offers Intended Parents:

  • An all-inclusive program that covers all Surrogate fees and expenses for unlimited transfers and any complications that may arise during your journey
  • No surprise costs or invoices, even in scenarios that require a rematch with a new Surrogate

Circle's costs include all agency fees, attorneys’ fees, screening and surrogate fees, and insurance costs. They do not include IVF costs.

The above costs are for our Surrogacy Only and Surrogacy Plus Egg Donation Programs. For more information about the costs of our other programs, please email us or call us at 617.439.9900.

Financing Surrogacy Costs

Financing is an option qualified intended parents may choose for their surrogacy journeys. You can speak with our Parent Intake Team or Consultation Team or fill out this form.

 Finding a Surrogate Mother in Hawaii

Finding a Surrogate Mother in Hawaii

Few moments during the surrogacy journey can equal the excitement of matching with the person who will be your gestational carrier. Circle Surrogacy works with gestational surrogates from Hawaii, Alaska, and every state in the continental U.S.

Get Started

What are the qualities that you want a surrogate mother to have? It’s important to consider whether you’re working with an agency or pursuing surrogacy independently before choosing a gestational carrier. Circle Surrogacy asks intended parents to fill out a profile that helps us get to know them better and find appropriate surrogate matches.

The information we ask for in the profile includes your:

  • Relationship (if you have a partner)
  • Family
  • Hobbies and activities
  • Plans for parenthood
  • Reasons for pursuing surrogacy

Any items that provide a good sense of who you are as people, including photos of yourself and your loved ones, will help us find the best possible surrogate matches.

Your Circle Matching Team uses your answers, in addition to your geographic location and views on termination, to find the best possible surrogate match. That’s why it’s important to be honest when answering these questions.

Additional information provided by intended parents that’s important to know when matching with your gestational carrier includes:

  • Desired level of communication with their surrogate during the journey
  • Location of the surrogate mother
  • Number of embryos to transfer
  • Views on selective reduction and termination

If you choose to pursue surrogacy without the assistance of an agency, you can use these criteria as guidelines for what you should look for in a suitable match.

 3 Criteria for Finding Surrogate Mothers

3 Criteria for Finding Surrogate Mothers

These are 3 factors to keep in mind during your search for a surrogate mother in Hawaii:

Appropriate legal fit: Before we present profiles of surrogates to intended parents, our legal department always ensures potential gestational carriers meet general legal criteria.

Personality fit and surrogacy expectations: Our goal is for surrogates and intended parents to develop comfortable relationships. That’s why your Matching team carefully reviews the list of safe matches provided by the legal team to ensure good personality fits.

Expectations surrounding termination and selective reduction: It's essential that surrogates and intended parents share similar views about the termination of a pregnancy if a situation develops in which a reduction or termination is considered. Intended parents often prefer to make the choice regarding termination.

 Search egg donor database

Finding an Egg Donor in Hawaii

An egg donor is a fertile woman who donates her eggs to enable another individual or couple to conceive a child (with or without the help of a surrogate). In some cases, an intended parent may use her eggs. Intended parents with concerns about infertility can build their families through egg donation, as can men and women in same-sex relationships.

Most intended parents start their egg donor search using an egg donor database. Most egg donor databases are set up so you can search for an egg donor by specific criteria. Circle's egg donor database is  easy to use and easy to navigate. Circle Surrogacy guides you through the entire egg donation process and helps you coordinate with an IVF clinic of your choice.

 Hawaii Surrogacy Laws

Hawaii Surrogacy Laws

Hawaii has not adopted any laws that regulate surrogacy. Courts in the state are generally favorable to the surrogacy process, which professionals have well-established. Having an experienced agency such as Circle Surrogacy help you navigate that process is especially important in states without definitive surrogacy laws so that everyone involved in your surrogacy journey is protected and has an advocate.

Intended parents from the LGBTQ+ community have the same legal rights and will generally experience the same surrogacy process as heterosexual couples.

Surrogacy in Hawaii for Surrogates

There is so much to learn about becoming a surrogate. We're here to help you navigate surrogacy, from understanding what a surrogate is and how to apply to become a surrogate mother to what to expect and how being a surrogate in Hawaii can affect your life.

Hawaii is considered a surrogacy-friendly state. We can work with many surrogates from Hawaii—from Honolulu to Hilo and throughout the Hawaiian Islands.

Read on to see how rewarding being a surrogate can be when you help those who aren't able to have a baby on their own experience the joys of parenthood.

 Surrogate Carrier Being Supported by Fellow Surrogate Carrier

What Is a Surrogate?

A woman who wishes to carry a baby for someone else is called a surrogate. You may also see or hear the terms surrogate mother, gestational carrier or gestational surrogate. Surrogates carry babies for Intended Parents who are unable to have a baby on their own. Most surrogate mothers are gestational surrogates, meaning the surrogate mother does not use her own eggs and doesn't share any genetics with the baby. Surrogates are compensated and protected legally by a contract signed by all parties.

Circle Surrogacy only works with gestational carriers – women who do not share biology with the baby they are carrying.

Surrogates are women who have children of their own, have had relatively easy pregnancies and births (they like being pregnant!), and many have completed their own families. Surrogate mothers want to help others have their own families.

What is surrogacy? It's an amazing way to help make intended parents' dreams come true and give others the ultimate gift: a baby!

 Surrogate mother With Her Husband & Children

5 Things To Know About Being a Surrogate

There is a lot of information out there about becoming a surrogate, but here are 5 quick things for you to know before you begin!

  1. Surrogates  do NOT use their own DNA (eggs) for the babies they carry
  2. Surrogates are  paid throughout the entirety of their journey (not at the end) and start before pregnancy
  3. Surrogates  have a say in with whom they match; all matches are mutual
  4. Surrogates  DO need to give themselves injections as part of the IVF process; most surrogates say these needles are no big deal
  5. Surrogates will have to say goodbye to the baby; they look forward to "giving the baby back" to their intended parents; because they are not genetically related to the baby,  surrogates do not feel an "attachment" to the babies they carry

Ready to learn more? Read on!

The Process for Surrogates in Hawaii

Surrogates enjoy support and guidance from our experienced social workers and program coordinators wherever they are in the process. If you are ready to apply now or interested in becoming a surrogate but want to talk with experienced surrogates or Surrogate Advisors, we have the expertise to help. Here is an overview of how to become a surrogate in Hawaii:

  • Pre-screening
  • Consultation
  • Matching with intended parents
  • Medical screening and legal contracts
  • Monitoring appointments and embryo transfer
  • Pregnancy
  • Delivery

Learn more about the  surrogacy process at Circle.

Getting Started as a Surrogate

What’s the first step in becoming a surrogate? We recommend completing our  online surrogacy application. There is no obligation to proceed if you aren’t ready. It takes only about 10 minutes to complete.
 Becoming a Surrogate Mother in Hawaii

Becoming a Surrogate Mother in Hawaii

What type of person becomes a surrogate mother? These women share many of the same traits. They are generous and adventurous. They have a passion for their own families. They are spirited, selfless, and caring. They may be teachers, nurses, stay-at-home moms, or have another calling. They are just like you.

What Are the Requirements for Becoming a Surrogate?

Hawaii residents who would like to apply to become surrogate mothers must:

  • Have delivered a child of their own and are currently parenting at least one child.
  • Have had uncomplicated pregnancies and deliveries, as documented by medical records.
  • Be between 21 and 44 years old.
  • Typically have a Body Mass Index (BMI) of no higher than 33. Calculate My BMI.
  • Be citizens, legal residents, or legal immigrants of the United States. If a surrogate is a legal resident or legal immigrant of the United States, the surrogate must be able to provide documentation that is valid for at least 2 years.
  • Not participate in the following government aid programs: cash assistance, welfare, public housing, and Section 8. All other forms of government assistance will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Additional requirements for becoming a surrogate also apply to most states.

Benefits of Being a Surrogate in Hawaii

In Hawaii and throughout the U.S., surrogate mothers who work with Circle Surrogacy are compensated generously, both in financial terms and in the sense of pride they feel. If you become a surrogate mother, you will:

  • Gain an incredible sense of self-fulfillment from giving the greatest gift humanly possible to another family
  • Build a life-long relationship with forever-grateful intended parents
  • Work with a personal Program Coordination Team and licensed social worker
  • Have the opportunity to work with local and international intended parents

You also get a customized benefits package as a surrogate mother in Hawaii.

The Circle Surrogate Promise

We created the Circle Surrogate Promise after listening to what previous carriers told their social workers or what they said during their exit interviews. Those conversations led us to improve our offerings to our gestational carriers, demonstrating the care and support we provide gestational carriers.

Guaranteed Pay, Security, and Support

The Circle Surrogate Promise is a program exclusive to Circle Surrogates; no other agency can offer the same level of security and support.

Circle Surrogacy promises:

  1. Guaranteed Compensation. A surrogate’s escrow account is always funded to ensure she is always paid in full and on time.
  2. No medical bill liability. Our past surrogates described their frustrations with medical bills, and we’ve made big changes, which include Circle Surrogacy taking on the liability of medical bills. While we can never stop having you receive medical bills (since you are the “patient”), our new Fixed Cost programs for intended parents allow us to protect both the surrogates and the intended parents and ensure all medical bills will be paid in a timely manner.
  3. $5,000 compensation, even if you leave the program. We compensate surrogates for their time, energy, and dedication thus far in their journey (up to $5,000 total) even if they don’t achieve a pregnancy. This is for women who are accepted into our surrogate program and who are medically cleared and matched with intended parents.
  4. Empowerment in birth choices. Gestational carriers often have different desires about birthing choices. At Circle, our surrogates have choices for their preferred birth options, such as doula care, a hospital birth, or using a birth center with a midwife.
  5. Personalized, small agency feel, with the resources of a large agency. The first person you speak with at Circle will likely be an experienced carrier who guides you through the process until you are matched with your intended parents. They will personally introduce you to your dedicated social worker and journey support team, all of whom are in house at Circle. You’ll always be supported by a Circle employee who knows all the details about you and your journey. (You’ll never have to worry about working with a third party who doesn’t even know your name!) Plus, with our expanded team, we are able to offer support groups, virtual events, one-on-one surrogate mentorship, and more.
 How Much Do Surrogates Get Paid in Hawaii?

How Much Do Surrogates Get Paid in Hawaii?

Gestational carriers in Hawaii get compensated financially for the time and emotional investment involved in carrying a baby for someone else. This compensation is often called "surrogate base compensation" or "surrogate payment." Circle Surrogacy created a compensation and benefits program for surrogates and their families based, in part, on what previous surrogates have told us.

The program provides security, benefits, and protection that are virtually unsurpassed.

Our new Surrogate Pay & Family Protection Program provides the following benefits:

  • Earning up to $55,000 (your base fee plus additional benefits)
  • Protection for the surrogate and her family throughout the journey
  • All expenses paid, from travel to meals to gas and more
  • Benefits and support through postpartum (the 4th trimester)
  • Full transparency on what's included
  • Benefits you won't find at any other agency

Are you still considering other surrogacy agencies because of the compensation they offer? We'd appreciate having the opportunity to talk with you about those offers before you make a decision—we can match them. We promise you'll have the best surrogacy experience with us.

How does surrogate pay work?


Base Compensation

You can calculate your base compensation with our payment calculator to see how much you could earn as a surrogate in Hawaii.

Payments Before You Are Pregnant

Circle provides signing payments and payments for your medical screening early in the surrogacy process. This is in addition to your base compensation.

Payments During and After Surrogacy

We compensate surrogates for essential items and services during and after pregnancy, including maternity clothing, housekeeping, pumping and shipping breast milk, and more. These payments are in addition to your base compensation.

Payments During and After Surrogacy

We compensate surrogates for essential items and services during and after pregnancy, including maternity clothing, housekeeping, pumping and shipping breast milk, and more. These payments are in addition to your base compensation.

Additional Benefits

Surrogates receive other non-monetary benefits—in addition to financial compensation—that are priceless in ensuring they’re protected and have a smooth journey. These benefits include legal counsel, life insurance, and more.

How Circle Supports Surrogates

Circle Surrogacy understands the support that surrogates need throughout their journeys—from the day they begin exploring surrogacy to meeting with the prospective parents and throughout their entire pregnancies to births.

We help surrogates navigate the screening process, ensuring they match with the perfect intended parent or parents, and guide them through the legal and social work aspects of surrogate parenting.

The passion we bring to our work is authentic—many of us are experienced surrogates and some members of our team have completed 3 surrogate journeys. Our hands-on guidance is informed by our experience, and we provide world-class expertise in the myriad legal, social, and medical aspects of your surrogacy process. If you have questions, we'll have the answers.

When you need a lawyer to review legal contracts, we can recommend an attorney in your area with whom we've previously worked. These attorneys are thoroughly knowledgeable about Assisted Reproductive Technology law. We can connect you with trustworthy experts whenever needed. To learn more about being a surrogate, read our blog post about the  10 steps to becoming to a surrogate.

 Finding a Perfect Intended Parent Match

Finding a Perfect Intended Parent Match

To ensure that you are matched with compatible prospective parents who will be part of an incredible, intimate journey with you, Circle Surrogacy developed a thorough matching process.

Your Surrogate Support Team uses personality profiles to find the perfect intended parent(s) for you. Surrogates and intended parents review each other’s profiles, ask questions, and generally feel each other out before a match is complete. We help schedule an initial video call between surrogates and intended parents to ensure both you and the intended parent(s) feel completely comfortable with the match. And, of course, the surrogacy agreement only moves forward if you do.

Circle works with single parents, LGBTQ+ and heterosexual couples, domestic and international couples, and others. We’re confident you’ll be able to find a great match.

Getting Started

Whether you are intended parents or interested in becoming a surrogate or egg donor, the surrogacy process can be one of the most rewarding experiences of your life.  Learning more about surrogacy is the first step of your journey.