Do you want to build your own family? Do you want to help others do so? Either way, surrogacy can be a rewarding, life-changing experience. At Circle Surrogacy & Egg Donation, we have over 27 years of experience helping intended parents from all backgrounds grow their families with the help of surrogate mothers and egg donors. We created this guide to help Iowa residents learn more about the surrogacy process—how it works, how to become a surrogate, how to find a surrogate, and much more. We are ready to support you every step of the way!
Surrogacy is a rewarding experience that brings people together to build families. Circle Surrogacy strives to make each journey safe and gratifying for all by providing our expert support and guidance.
The leaders of our team at Circle have firsthand experience with surrogacy as intended parents, surrogates, or egg donors themselves.
People of various backgrounds, ages, and sexual orientations—both couples and individuals—build their families through surrogacy. Intended parents from Iowa often include:
• Heterosexual couples who have struggled with infertility
• Women who are unable to carry a child
• People who don’t want to pass on a genetic defect or health condition to their child
• Same-sex intended parents who want a genetic connection with their baby
The women who become gestational surrogates and egg donors are just as diverse, making each surrogacy journey unique.
In Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Waterloo, and throughout Iowa, you have access to many benefits when you start a surrogacy journey as intended parents, a surrogate, or an egg donor, including:
If your journey will include an egg donor, we suggest you match with her before matching with a surrogate. With the help of our egg donor database, you can choose from a variety of intelligent young women who are healthy—both physically and emotionally—and are excited at the prospect of helping others become parents.
Circle's Matching Team will help you match with the perfect surrogate and encourage you to get to know each other and develop a strong bond.
After helping you find a surrogate match, Circle will assist with the following during her pregnancy:
Pregnancy is an exciting time during which many intended parents and surrogates form close relationships. Depending on where she lives, you might even join your surrogate for prenatal appointments.
Once you are emotionally and financially ready to begin a surrogacy journey within the next 12 months, it’s time to meet with the agency you selected for a consultation. Circle offers complimentary, in-depth surrogacy consultations with a parent intake consultant and a lawyer. These in-depth, private meetings typically last 2 to 2 1/2 hours because it takes time to get to know you and your story, explain the surrogacy process as it relates to your situation, and answer your questions. We will walk you through surrogacy programs and costs, as well.
Free consultations with our team are available over video; we do our best to accommodate your schedule.
If you're not ready for a full consultation but would like more information, you can schedule a pre-consultation with our intake team by contacting [email protected] and someone will reach out to coordinate a time.
Circle Surrogacy offers one all-inclusive surrogacy cost program in Iowa: the Journey Protection Guarantee Program.
This program was designed to provide the utmost protection and financial security for intended parents, with no surprise costs or fees popping up during the journey. No other surrogacy agency can promise that!
Journey Protection Guarantee Program
Surrogacy only: $157,750
Surrogacy plus egg donation: $184,750
(both prices exclude IVF)
Our Journey Protection Guarantee offers Intended Parents:
Our Journey Protection Guarantee Program includes fixed costs on the following:
Circle Surrogacy is proud to offer this all-inclusive program to help as many Intended Parents in Iowa as possible bring home a baby while reducing variable costs. The costs outlined above 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.
Some intended parents may have the opportunity to qualify for financing for their journey. Please speak with our Parent Intake Team or Consultation Team or by filling out this form.
Bringing intended parents and surrogates together is a gratifying experience for all involved, including our agency. We know that finding the right match will be an exciting part of your journey to parenthood. You will have plenty of candidates when you choose Circle because we work with many surrogate mothers from Iowa and most surrounding states.
The surrogate matching process at Circle begins with our intended parent profile. It helps our Matching Team get to know you better and match you with an ideal surrogate. The profile asks about you, your relationship (if you have a partner), your family, your hobbies, your plans for parenthood, and why you are pursuing surrogacy. We'll also ask you to share photos of yourself, the people close to you, and anything else that better acquaints us with you as a person.
Your profile is also your opportunity to specify:
The guidelines above can also help those making an independent surrogacy journey to choose a suitable surrogate match.
Ask yourself the following questions when searching for a surrogate mother in Iowa:
1. Does she meet the legal requirements? When you choose Circle, our legal department will ensure each surrogate we present to intended parents meets the requirements of Iowa's surrogacy laws.
2. Do her personality and surrogacy expectations match yours? At Circle, your Matching Team (which includes a lawyer) will work together to ensure your personality and expectations fit well with the surrogate's, so you have a comfortable relationship throughout the journey.
3. Do you have similar views on termination and selective reduction? While everyone hopes they don't have to think about a selective reduction or pregnancy termination, it's important that surrogates and intended parents are in agreement before starting the journey. In our experience, intended parents typically prefer to have the option to terminate or selectively reduce if issues should arise.
Your egg donor (if needed) will contribute to half your child's genetics, so it's extremely important to find the right one. Here are some questions to think about when you start looking for your best egg donor match:
Circle's egg donor database is a helpful place for intended parents to start their egg donor search. You can easily narrow down your choices by searching for specific criteria, including:
Circle's experienced team can help you make a great match if you're not completely sure about what you're looking for in an egg donor.
At Circle, our Iowa surrogates receive the support and guidance of our experienced social workers and program coordinators, many who have been surrogates themselves. We support women wherever they are in the process whether they are ready to apply now or are interested, but want to talk with experienced surrogates or Surrogate Advisors. Here is an overview of the process:
Learn more about the surrogacy process at Circle.
Gestational surrogates are very special women who are passionate about motherhood and their families. They are teachers, medical professionals, and stay-at-home moms. They are spirited, caring, and selfless.
To qualify as a surrogate mother in Iowa, you must meet the following requirements:
Our surrogate mothers who live in Iowa enjoy both monetary and emotional benefits, which include:
See Circle's full list of benefits and compensation for surrogates in Iowa.
Surrogate mothers receive monthly payments and start earning compensation and benefits even before they are pregnant.
Being a surrogate takes a monumental emotional, physical, and mental commitment. Circle understands and appreciates the dedication our surrogates–and their families–bring to each and every surrogacy journey. Our compensation and benefits program was created for surrogates, by surrogates and provides the utmost security, benefits, and protection of any surrogate program.
Our new Surrogate Pay & Family Protection Program was built with surrogates and their families in mind. It provides the following benefits:
If compensation is the only consideration keeping you from applying with Circle, we’d love you to talk with us about what other agencies are offering—we can match it.
We promise you'll have the best surrogacy experience with us.
Payments to surrogate mothers begin before they are even pregnant and continue throughout their pregnancy. Surrogate pay can be broken down into the following categories:
Base Compensation
Calculate your base compensation with our payment calculator to see how much you could earn as a surrogate in your state.
Payments Before You Are Pregnant
You will be compensated early in your journey for completing tasks and milestones, such as a signing payment and for your medical screening. These payments are in addition to your base compensation.
Payments During and After Surrogacy
Surrogate mothers also receive financial support for necessities during the pregnancy, such as maternity clothing, housekeeping, pumping and shipping breast milk, and more. These payments are in addition to your base compensation.
Additional Benefits
Surrogates will receive additional non-monetary benefits that are priceless in ensuring they’re protected and have a smooth journey. These benefits include social work support, legal counsel, life insurance, and more.
At Circle, we know what it takes to provide exceptional support for surrogates because many of our staff members have been surrogates themselves. From the moment they fill out their application to delivery day and beyond, our thoroughly prescreened surrogates have access to:
If you have questions about being a surrogate, talk with our highly experienced team. We are ready with answers.
Another way in which we support our surrogates is by connecting them with skilled, trustworthy experts. We will refer you to an attorney in your area who has a strong working knowledge of assisted reproductive technology (ART) law and with whom we've worked previously to help you review and understand any legal contracts. It's just one more way we help make the entire surrogacy process smooth and simple. To learn more, read our blog post about the 10 steps to becoming a surrogate.
The Circle Surrogate Promise is a program that guarantees pay, security, and support exclusively for Circle Surrogates; no other agency can offer the same level of security and support. We created this program because we truly care about our carriers and want surrogacy to be as successful and rewarding as possible for each of them. We have incorporated feedback from previous carriers to improve our offerings.
Circle Surrogacy promises:
1. Guaranteed compensation. Circle ensures that each surrogate is always paid in full and on time because we financially back our intended parents.
2. Zero medical bill liability. Circle Surrogacy takes on the liability of medical bills. We listened to our past surrogates and their frustrations with medical bills, and we've made big changes. While a surrogate is the patient and will always receive medical bills, our new fixed-cost Journey Protection Guarantee Program for intended parents allows us to protect both the surrogates and intended parents and ensure all medical bills will be paid in a timely manner.
3. $5,000 compensation, even if you leave the program. If you are accepted into our surrogate program and you are medically cleared and matched with intended parents—but you don't achieve a pregnancy—we will compensate you for your time, energy, and dedication thus far in your journey (up to $5,000 total).
4. Empowerment in birth choices. Not every gestational carrier has the same desires when it comes to the birth of their surrogate baby. 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; large agency resources. 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'll also 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.
The matching process is just as important for surrogates as it is for intended parents. Once you decide to become a gestational carrier in Iowa, we use our extensive and thorough matching process to make sure to match you with the right intended parents. Once matched, you and the intended parents will take this monumental journey together, so it's important there is a strong connection and sense of trust between each of you.
Your Surrogate Advisor will begin the matching process by considering personality fit and legal circumstances. You'll get to review each other's profiles, ask questions, and see if you feel comfortable with each other. You will also meet the intended parents in an initial video call and possibly in person. It's important to make sure all parties—you and the intended parents—feel comfortable with the match. Only then will the surrogacy agreement move forward.
Circle works with all kinds of intended parents, including LGBTQ+ and heterosexual couples, domestic and international couples, singles, and more. We're confident there's the right match for you.
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