When intended parents and surrogate mother applicants first begin looking into surrogacy – it can feel a little overwhelming. Working with an experienced agency who can help you understand what is surrogacy, learn the surrogacy process, and help you become a surrogate or a parent is key. Circle Surrogacy is headquartered right in Boston, MA and has been the choice of Massachusetts-based surrogates and intended parents since 1995!
Massachusetts is a surrogacy-friendly state for intended parents and surrogates. Plus, many top IVF clinics and hospitals are in and around the Boston area. Circle is proud to be part of the local community, helping fulfill dreams of parenthood.
Circle Surrogacy has worked with both intended parents and surrogates from all over Massachusetts, from larger cities such as Boston, Springfield, Framingham and Worcester; smaller towns in Western MA such as Lenox and Holyoke; Northern, MA towns Andover, Gloucester and Peabody; and the South Shore, MA cities and towns of Braintree, Plymouth and more.
Circle Surrogacy & Egg Donation was founded on the belief that everyone should have the opportunity to be a parent. For over 20 years, we’ve helped straight and LGBTQ+ couples and singles fulfill their dreams of parenthood.
Surrogacy allows couples and individuals who live in Massachusetts who are not able to grow their families, a family-building option. Surrogacy helps those from a variety of backgrounds, ages and sexual orientations.
Intended parents from Massachusetts who use surrogacy include:
• 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
• Same sex intended parents who want to have a genetic link to their baby
Everyone who comes to surrogacy has a unique and personal story.
Massachusetts is a surrogacy-friendly state for both gestational carriers and intended parents. Whether you live in Boston, Worcester, Springfield or anywhere in between – here's everything you need to know about gestational surrogacy.
Massachusetts is a great state for surrogacy for the following reasons:
• Massachusetts-based support. Circle Surrogacy is based in Boston, MA. And while an agency’s location does not have an impact on the level of service or support you receive, should you ever want to meet in person, you can! Circle Surrogacy’s founder, John Weltman, is a gay dad through surrogacy and lawyer, so he knows first-hand what the process is like for a parent from Massachusetts. We have an experienced local team that is always available to meet with parents and surrogates, and provide support. Plus, we host events throughout the year for parents and surrogates who live in the area.
• Local IVF clinics. Massachusetts is home to some of the top Fertility Clinics in the world. Circle works closely with these IVF clinics in Boston and the New England area, which helps to reduce travel costs associated with your journey. If you’re already established with an IVF clinic we’re happy to work with your clinic of choice.
• Local surrogates. Circle works with surrogates from Massachusetts and the surrounding states, including New Hampshire, Connecticut, Maine, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
• Flexible consultation schedule. We are available for in-person or video consultations Monday through Friday during the days and evenings, and one weekend a month. Our team works with your schedule to find a time to meet that works best for you.
• Massachusetts attorneys on staff for your legal work and insurance.
• Massachusetts Surrogacy Laws. Massachusetts has long been known for its favorable surrogacy laws, which has allowed Circle Surrogacy to successfully match surrogates with intended parents for over two decades.
The surrogacy process can feel complex and overwhelming, as there are many moving parts. Working with an agency can help you navigate the milestones and events throughout your journey so that you can focus on the most important thing: preparing for the arrival of your baby!
You may choose to undergo your surrogacy journey independently, or with the help of a surrogacy agency. Because of the intricacies of the surrogacy process, Circle Surrogacy recommends working with an agency to ensure you have the proper support to ensure you have as smooth and safe of a journey as possible.
Once you've identified surrogacy as the way you'd like to grow your family, and you've selected an agency with whom you'd like to meet, the first step is to schedule a consultation.
A surrogacy consultation is an in-depth meeting (about 2-21/2 hours long) with a parent intake consultant and a lawyer. While this may feel like a long meeting, the time goes by quickly. Circle will use this time getting to know you and your story, as well as talk about surrogacy and the process as it relates to your personal situation. We'll help you understand surrogacy programs and costs, as well. Our consultations are always free, and are scheduled at times that work with intended parents’ schedules.
For both surrogate mothers and intended parents in Massachusetts, the best place to start a surrogacy journey and finding a surrogacy agency is by doing your research. This can be in the form of online research, speaking with IVF doctors, or connecting with others who have been through the surrogacy process as surrogates or parents. There are many different agencies out there – from smaller, boutique agencies to larger, full-service agencies – and it's important to understand their differences so you can make an informed decision. Things to consider when choosing a surrogacy agency include: the legal services they offer, their experience and success rates, their surrogate screening process and – almost as important – if you “click” with the people who meet with.
At Circle Surrogacy, you will work closely with your Program Coordination Team to find the perfect surrogate match. You are about to embark on one of the most intimate journeys there is with someone, and Circle Surrogacy encourages strong relationships between intended parents and surrogates. Forming a strong bond with the woman who will carry your baby or babies provides comfort and confidence for parents, and can help them have more successful journeys. For those intended parents who require an egg donor to grow their family, they will match with an egg donor prior to matching with their surrogate. Intended Parents can search our egg donor database to find bright and ambitious young women who are excited for the opportunity to help them grow their family.
During the pregnancy is when intended parents and surrogates really deepen their relationship. Intended parents can expect updates on the pregnancy, and should maintain their weekly contact with their surrogate (at least). Depending on location and logistics, intended parents may visit their surrogate for ultrasound appointments, or in some cases, surrogates use video chat during appointments so the intended parents can "attend" virtually. Many intended parents travel to attend the ultrasound done at week 20, and use this time to also tour the hospital where their surrogate will be giving birth. From week 20 and beyond, Circle will be working closely with you to help prepare you for the birth of your baby, finalizing parentage, and ensuring you have everything you need to return home safely.
Starting the surrogacy process may feel a little daunting, but when you work with an experienced agency, you can have confidence that you’ll be prepared for every step, and that you can focus on the arrival of your baby.
We’ve broken down beginning a surrogacy journey for you below to help you get started.
1. Research, research, research! Learn all there is to know about surrogacy.
2. Write down what's important to you in a surrogacy journey. What type of surrogate/intended parent relationship are you looking for? What level of surrogacy support?
3. Make a list of agencies that fit your criteria, and reach out. Finding an agency that "feels right" is important!
Once intended parents have identified 1-3 agencies that seem like a good fit, we recommend reaching out to each surrogacy agency and scheduling a time to speak with their parent intake team. After you have initial conversations and questions answered, you can decide if you're ready for a full surrogacy consultation.
Although we prefer to meet in-person with intended parents for our consultations, everyone’s health and safety is our primary focus. Instead of in-person meetings in the near future, we are offering free consultations with our team over Skype or Zoom.
If you're not ready for a full consultation but would like more information, you can schedule a 15-minute chat with a member of our team.
Bringing a baby into your family through surrogacy is one of the greatest joys you can experience. Not only will you be having the baby you've dreamed of, but you'll also form a bond with your gestational surrogate – and her family– that is like no other. Surrogacy is a safe way to have the family you desire; Intended parents from Massachusetts have been using surrogacy as a means to grow their families for decades.
Intended parents come to surrogacy after they’ve experienced loss, or struggled with their own fertility. Circle Surrogacy has created their programs and cost to provide the most cost security and success for intended parents.
Circle Surrogacy has a success rate of 99.3% for bringing home a baby. This rate is based on intended parents who completed one or two transfers, or had at least 3 transfers. It’s the highest success rate in the industry, and has been audited by an outside agency.
Our Parent Intake team has years of experience (some have worked with Circle for 15 years!) partnering with intended parents from the very early part of a journey, even before they are ready to commit. We’ll answer all of your questions and provide guidance and support.
Circle offers multiple surrogacy programs in Massachusetts from which intended parents can choose. Even though we're a large agency, our programs are not "one size fits all". We work with all intended parents separately to understand their needs and help them find the program best suited for their needs.
Surrogacy costs can be compartmentalized into four categories:
• Professional Fees
• Gestational Carrier (i.e., surrogate) and Egg Donor Fees
• Medical & Insurance Expenses
• IVF Expenses
Most agencies do not offer fixed costs for any of these cost categories, which can result in surprise fees and financial uncertainty throughout the surrogacy journey. However, Circle Surrogacy fixes the costs for Professional Fees, Gestational Carrier and Egg Donor Fees and Medical & Insurance Expenses.
Circle Surrogacy offers two fixed cost surrogacy programs in Massachusetts from which intended parents can choose: our Fixed Cost program and our Journey Protection Guarantee program. Both options have fixed costs that do not change during your journey, so you can plan for costs with no surprises.
Even though we're a large agency, our programs are not "one size fits all". We work with all intended parents separately to understand their needs and help them find the program best suited for their journey.
Surrogacy only: $128,750
Surrogacy plus egg donation: $149,750
(both prices exclude IVF)
Our Fixed Cost Program provides intended parents the security of paying one fixed price for a single transfer journey, reducing unexpected expenses and the uncertainty of variable costs.
Surrogacy only: $137,250
Surrogacy plus egg donation: $158,250
(both prices exclude IVF)
Our Journey Protection Guarantee offers intended parents unlimited transfers for a fixed price, plus the Circle Promise: we’ll refund 100% of our agency fee plus unused third-party funds if you do not bring home a baby.
Circle Surrogacy & Egg Donation is proud to be the only surrogacy agency to offer an exclusive financing plan for intended parents living in Massachusetts, through our partnership with Origin Finance, LLC. Our new financing plan helps make surrogacy an option for even more intended parents to grow their families.
Learn more about our financing plan here, or by calling 415.906.7278.
Finding a surrogate mother match is one of the most exciting parts of your journey – this is the woman who will be carrying your baby(ies). How exactly do you go about finding a surrogate mother?
If you’re working with a surrogacy agency, they will help you find your surrogate match. If you’re pursuing an independent journey, you will be required to find a surrogate on your own. This may be a family member or friend, or perhaps a surrogate you found through an online community.
At Circle Surrogacy, matching intended parents and surrogates is a team effort. You’ll be asked to share information about who you are as an intended parent by filling out an profile that not only allows us to get to know you better, but also helps your Program Coordinator find your surrogate match.
This intended parent profile will ask you information about you, your relationship (if you are coupled), your family, your hobbies, your plans for parenthood, and what brought you to surrogacy. You’ll also be asked to share photos of yourself, your loved ones and of anything else that gives a good sense of who you are as people.
In addition to your profile, Circle Surrogacy will use additional criteria to match you with your gestational carrier.
Intended Parent matching criteria includes their preferences on:
• 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’re working with a surrogacy agency, your agency team will help you find a surrogate mother. They will use a few certain criteria to match you.
1. Appropriate legal fit
In the United States, each state has its own laws regarding surrogacy. Outside the U.S., each country has different requirements and laws regarding surrogacy. Circle’s experienced legal team ensures that the laws of the surrogate’s home state (where the delivery will take place) complement the laws of intended parents' home state/country (including laws around same sex parenting). Our legal team will always approve a match from a legal standpoint before a surrogate profile is presented to intended parents. We will never knowingly present matches that are not a safe legal fit.
Once the legal team presents its list of safe matches, the Surrogate Advisors and Program Coordinators and Managers review the list together to find the best personality fits, since we want this to be a comfortable relationship throughout the entirety of the journey. Circle Surrogacy will also use the information gathered from individual phone calls or in-person meetings with both surrogates and intended parents early in process to determine good personality fits. We also look at IPs' and surrogates' expectations and hopes for the journey including the number of embryos to transfer and communication styles.
As an intended parent or surrogate, you will be asked about your views on termination of a pregnancy. This is a standard question asked early in the process. Parents and surrogates must share similar views on this topic in order for a match to be considered. We want to ensure that the views of the surrogate and the views of the intended parents align in the event a situation arises where a reduction or termination is considered. In our experience, many intended parents prefer the option to make the choice of termination.
If you need an egg donor to grow your family, Circle Egg Donation can help you find your egg donor match. We'll show you how to go about finding your egg donor match, whether she's an egg donor in Massachusetts, or another state.
Finding the perfect egg donor match can feel like an overwhelming task. How do you begin to find an egg donor who will help you grow your family?
There are a few different ways to approach finding an egg donor. First, intended parents can search for a young woman who has similar qualities that they or their partner possess. Second, intended parents can look for an egg donor who complements their personality or appearance.
But don’t forget, even though you select an egg donor with brown eyes and brown hair, you may still be blessed with a beautiful blond baby!
It’s helpful to start your search for an egg donor in an egg donor database. Most Egg Donor databases are set up so that you can search for an egg donor by certain criteria.
Try making a list of search criteria before you begin. Things to consider are:
• Physical attributes (hair/eye color)
• Race/ethnicity
• Education
• Previous fertility
• Geography
Within each donor profile, you'll find a tremendous amount of additional information, including:
• Personal information
• Favorite hobbies, activities, foods
• Family medical history
• Motivation for becoming a donor
It’s common to start out a search not quite knowing what you’re looking for – and that is fine! Trust us – you’ll know your match when you see her!
Massachusetts is a surrogacy-friendly state and becoming a parent in Massachusetts is safe and simple for those growing their families through surrogacy and or egg donation. Plus, Circle Surrogacy is headquartered in Boston, MA, which means we have experience working with many intended parents and surrogates from the Bay State!
Massachusetts statutes don’t directly address surrogacy agreements. But a number of cases from the state's highest court have treated surrogacy favorably. Finalizing arrangements for surrogacy in Massachusetts is typically done by pre-birth order, which allows the surrogate mother and intended parent to complete all necessary paperwork before the birth even occurs. Some intended parents will require a post-birth second-parent or stepparent adoption. In either case, surrogates sign all necessary documents and generally won't ever need to appear in court.
Location, location, location! Massachusetts has some of the best hospitals and IVF clinics in the world so you can be sure you're receiving the best care. And because Circle Surrogacy is the premier surrogacy agency in the state, they have worked with local clinics for over two decades.
Massachusetts also mandates maternity coverage for insurance plans. This means insurance companies have to cover maternity costs regardless of how you became pregnant, even if you are acting as a surrogate.
Women from Boston and other cities in Massachusetts who apply to become surrogate mothers are generous, adventurous and kind. They are teachers, nurses and stay-at-home moms. They are passionate about their families. They are spirited, caring and selfless.
They are just like you.
Surrogate requirements in Massachusetts must be met in order for a woman to become a surrogate mother with our surrogacy agency.
In order to qualify to become a surrogate mom, here are some requirements an applicant must meet:
Women from Massachusetts who become surrogates may experience higher surrogate pay, because Massachusetts is considered a “desirable state” for surrogate mothers.
Here are additional benefits to becoming a surrogate in MA:
The Circle Surrogate Promise was created for surrogates because we truly care about our carriers, and we want each of them to have the most successful and rewarding journey possible.
In the past, our carriers shared thoughts and improvements with their social workers, or during their exit interviews, and we took all of those conversations and suggestions to heart and improved on our offerings to our gestational carriers.
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:
As the world leader in this field, Circle brings 25 years of experience and passion to surrogacy in Massachusetts. Our team supports you every step of the way—from the day you begin exploring surrogacy to your meeting with the prospective parents, and throughout your entire pregnancy to birth. We’ll help you navigate the screening process, ensure you match with the perfect intended parent or parents, and guide you through the legal and social work aspects of surrogate parenting.
At Circle Surrogacy, our surrogates will find experienced surrogates on staff who can answer any questions they may have, and share their experiences. They’ve been in the applicants’ shoes, so they can talk openly and honestly about the entire process.
We can also connect you with skilled, trustworthy experts. For example, when it’s time for you to review legal contracts, we’ll recommend an attorney local to you with whom we’ve worked with previously, and who has a strong working knowledge of Assisted Reproduction Technology law. It’s just one more way we can clear the path for you and make the entire surrogacy program as seamless as possible. Read our blog post about the 10 steps to becoming to a surrogate.
When intended parents and surrogates are matched, it's a very exciting time during the journey. Parents and surrogates may feel some apprehension and nervousness, but above all, they should feel excitement at the prospect of being matched for this extraordinary experience. Many of our parents and surrogates describe this initial matching and meeting like a “first date”.
At Circle, we work hard to find the best possible match for all parties. Unlike other agencies, intended parents and surrogates may not see multiple profiles from which they can choose. Instead, matches are hand-selected based on preferences of both parties, plus additional criteria.
When gestational carriers and intended parents begin working with Circle, they are asked questions to help determine the best possible match.
Surrogate mothers will work with their Surrogate Advisor to find the best match. Surrogate matching criteria includes her preferences on:
The criteria you use to determine a good match is personal to you. Some parents look to hear why a surrogate has applied to do a surrogacy journey. Some gestational carriers like to hear intended parents' past - how they met, and why they are interested in growing their family. Other times, it's a gut feeling that it's "right". One surrogate shared with us, "When we started our video call to get to know the intended parents I connected with them instantly and just knew immediately that I wanted to help them!"
Surrogacy is one of the most rewarding experiences for all parties involved. If you are interested in becoming an intended parent, becoming a surrogate or applying to be egg donor, we're ready to educate you and partner with you on your journey. Learning more about surrogacy is the first step of your journey.
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