The Ultimate Guide to Surrogacy in New Jersey

Circle Surrogacy – New York Office

48 Wall Street
Suite 1100
New York, NY 10043
Phone: (332) 282-5151

Surrogacy is supported in New Jersey for both gestational carriers (surrogate mothers) and intended parents. Whether you live in Newark, Trenton, Hoboken, or anywhere in between–here's everything you need to know about gestational surrogacy.

Surrogacy allows couples and individuals from a variety of backgrounds, ages, and sexual orientations to build their families. The types of intended parents who may use surrogacy include:

• Heterosexual couples who have struggled with infertility
• Intended mothers who are unable to carry a child
• Intended parents who want to avoid passing on a genetic defect or health condition to their child
• LGBTQ+ intended parents who wishes to have a genetic connection to their baby

Each surrogacy journey is as unique as the intended parents and their reasons for taking the first steps.

New Jersey is an excellent state for intended parents and surrogate mothers because it has favorable surrogacy laws and is close to top-notch IVF clinics.

Circle Surrogacy has a surrogacy agency team near New Jersey in Circle's New York City office who meets regularly with intended parents interested in growing their families through surrogacy. If you're thinking about becoming a parent through surrogacy, you can meet with Jen or Tony, our Tri-State area reps who are parents through surrogacy.

Surrogacy and egg donation helps straight and LGBTQ+ singles and couples in New Jersey grow their families. New Jersey is a surrogacy friendly state, and intended parents will find many top-rated IVF clinics in the area and on the east coast.

Below you'll find information about surrogacy in New Jersey, including what the surrogacy process looks like, how much surrogacy costs, what surrogacy program can help you, and so much more. The process can feel overwhelming at first, but the more you read and research, the more familiar it will become to you. Many professionals are involved in a surrogacy journey, and it is a life-changing experience.

We're ready to help intended parents from Paterson to Elizabeth, Bridgewater to Princeton, and everywhere in between.

Circle is local to New Jersey! We have an office in New York City and our experienced team is happy to meet with you in person, or by phone to answer any questions you may have.

The surrogacy process can feel complicated and overwhelming because there is so much to manage. Our best advice: Work with an agency that can help you navigate the milestones and events throughout your journey. The intended parent process and surrogate process are different, but they both lead to the same big event: delivery day!

Circle Surrogacy has been helping straight and LGBTQ+ singles and couples grow their families through surrogacy and egg donation since opening their Boston office in 1995, making us one of the first full-service surrogacy agencies in the U.S.

Choosing an Agency

Not every surrogacy agency is a good fit. Finding a surrogacy agency with which you have good chemistry and that shares your surrogacy views is key to a successful journey. Beginning your journey toward surrogacy is a big step, so it's important to do your research!

Surrogacy laws vary by state, so working with an agency with lawyers knowledgeable in assisted reproductive technology (ART) and surrogacy law is essential. They will help you understand the surrogacy laws in New Jersey.

Finding a Surrogate and Egg Donor

Prior to matching with your surrogate, you may need to match with an egg donor. Our egg donor database contains information about the bright, ambitious young women who are excited for the opportunity to help you grow your family.

Your Matching Team will help you find the perfect surrogate match and encourage you to form a strong bond with the woman who will carry your baby(ies). If you'd like to find a surrogate with specific criteria, you can share your preference with your PC team.

Pregnancy and Parenthood

You’ll further develop your relationship with your surrogate during pregnancy, and if she lives close to New Jersey, perhaps even visiting her for appointments. Your agency will be supporting you through each milestone, helping you prepare for traveling for the birth and ensuring you have everything you need to return home safely and securely.

Once you've identified surrogacy as the way you'd like to grow your family and you've selected an agency with which you'd like to meet, it's time to schedule a consultation.

A surrogacy consultation is an in-depth meeting (about 2 to 2 1/2 hours long) with a parent intake consultant and a lawyer. This private meeting will allow us to get 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 surrogacy costs, as well.

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 New Jersey: 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: $148,750
Surrogacy plus egg donation: $172,750
(both prices exclude IVF)

Our Journey Protection Guarantee offers Intended Parents:

• An all-inclusive cost that covers unlimited retrievals and transfers and any complications that may arise during your journey
• 100% refund of our agency fee if you have no embryos remaining and do not bring home a baby
• No surprise costs or invoices

Our Journey Protection Guarantee Program includes fixed costs on the following:

• Professional Fees
• Gestational Carrier (i.e., surrogate) and Egg Donor Fees
• Pregnancy, Labor & Delivery Insurance

Circle Surrogacy is proud to offer this all-inclusive program to help as many Intended Parents in New Jersey 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.

Financing Surrogacy Costs

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.

Matching with your surrogate mother is an exciting time in your surrogacy journey. Circle works with many surrogate mothers from New Jersey, as well as all the surrounding states. With headquarters in Boston and an office in New York City, we have strong representation in the New Jersey area, making it even easier for surrogates and intended parents to connect.

Our Intended Parent Profile

Our intended parent profile allows us to get to know you and helps our Matching Team find your surrogate match. This profile is filled with information about you and your:

• Relationship (if you are coupled)
• Family
• Hobbies
• Plans for parenthood
• Reasons for seeking surrogacy

We'll ask that you also share photos of yourself, your loved ones, and anything else that gives a good sense of who you are as people.

Intended Parent Matching Criteria

In addition to your profile, there are certain criteria on which you will be matched with your gestational carrier. Intended parent matching criteria includes your 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 are looking for a surrogate on your own, it can be helpful to consider these criteria when searching for a good match.

We recommend intended parents consider the following criteria when searching for a surrogate mother in New Jersey:

1. Is she an appropriate legal fit? In the United States, each state has its own laws regarding surrogacy. In addition, each country we assist in has different requirements and laws regarding surrogacy. At Circle, your Matching Team (which includes a lawyer) ensures that the laws of the surrogate’s home state (where the delivery will take place) complement the laws of the intended parents' home state/country (including laws around same-sex parenting). The legal department will always approve a match from a legal standpoint before a surrogate profile is presented to the intended parents.

2. Do her personality and surrogacy expectations match yours? Both surrogates and intended parents undergo phone calls or in-person meetings with the Circle team early in the process; these meetings help determine your personality as it relates to surrogacy. We also look at IPs' and surrogates' expectations and hopes for the journey, including the number of embryos to transfer and communication styles.

3. Do you agree on expectations surrounding termination and selective reduction? We ask IPs and surrogates their views on termination of a pregnancy as we want to create a match of IPs and surrogates who share similar views. We want to ensure that the surrogate’s views and the intended parents’ views align in the event a reduction or termination issue arises. In our experience, many intended parents prefer the option to make the choice of termination.

Circle Surrogacy conducts a full screening of their surrogates to determine which are the strongest, healthiest, and most likely to be successful surrogate mothers before matching with intended parents.

Some intended parents require an egg donor in order to grow their family. Matching with an egg donor is an important part of your journey to parenthood – you are selecting the young woman who will provide half of your child's biology.

Qualities to Consider

The first step to finding your perfect egg donor match is to think about the type of woman you're looking for. Are you looking for someone who has similar qualities that you or your partner possess? Or do you wish for a woman whose traits complement your personality or appearance? These are a few things to think about when beginning your egg donor search.

As you begin searching, have some thoughts as to what's important to you in an egg donor match, such as:

• Physical attributes (hair/eye color)
• Race/ethnicity
• Education
• Previous fertility
• Geography

And remember, nature vs. nurture – not every characteristic or trait is hereditary!

Search Through Our Egg Donor Database

A great first place to start your egg donor search is in an egg donor database. Most egg donor databases allow you to search for an egg donor by certain criteria. Circle's egg donor database is easy to use and easy to navigate.

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

You may not know what you're looking for in a donor, and that's okay! Some intended parents take the "I'll know her when I see her" approach.

The Garden State has agreeable surrogacy laws for both intended parents and surrogates. If you're looking to become a surrogate mother and you live in Newark, Trenton, or elsewhere in New Jersey, you’re in luck. Circle Surrogacy is the best surrogacy agency with an office right in New York City!

Determining Parentage in New Jersey

In 2018, Governor Phil Murphy signed a bill that legalized gestational surrogacy in the Garden State! The new surrogacy law, entitled The New Jersey Gestational Carrier Act, recognizes contracts for gestational surrogacy arrangements. The state’s comprehensive law protects the rights of the surrogate, the intended parents, and the baby. This makes New Jersey an excellent setting for surrogacy, protecting all the parties involved.

Because parentage is determined in the state where the surrogate lives, it's safe and secure for intended parents to match with New Jersey surrogate mothers.

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

New Jersey is a surrogacy-friendly state, and its eastern location makes it easily accessible to top-rated IVF clinics. We work women from all over New Jersey, from Paterson to Elizabeth, Bridgewater to Princeton, and everywhere in between. We're happy to connect you to an experienced surrogate to answer any questions you might have. Circle has a large network of surrogates on the east coast!

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.

Circle is local to New Jersey! We have an office in New York City and our experienced team is happy to meet with you in person, or by phone to answer any questions you may have.

Surrogates carry babies for those who are unable to have a baby on their own (they are often referred to as "Intended Parents" or "IPs").

Other terms for a surrogate include:
• Surrogate Mother
• Gestational Carrier
• Gestational Surrogate

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 kind, giving and selfless. They love being parents, and want others to be able to experience that same joy.

At Circle, our New Jersey 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:

• 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.

Wherever you are in your journey, we suggest completing our online surrogacy application. It takes only about 10 minutes to complete and there is no obligation to proceed if you aren’t ready.

Women from New Jersey will have the opportunity to work with an East Coast surrogacy agency (we're right in Boston and New York City!). Also, we work with many intended parents from the East Coast, including the tri-state area. Surrogates from New Jersey will have the opportunity to work with intended parents who are local to them. Plus, Circle works with many IVF clinics in New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut, reducing the amount of travel for surrogates and travel costs for intended parents.

As a New Jersey surrogate, you may also enjoy other benefits, including:

• Gaining an incredible sense of self-fulfillment from giving the greatest gift humanly possible to another family
• Working with intended parents and clinics local to your area
• Receiving exceptional compensation!
• Building a life-long relationship with forever-grateful intended parents
• Working with a personal journey coordination team and licensed social worker
• Consulting with your legal representation to guide you through the legal process

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.

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. Circle Surrogacy financially backs their Intended Parents, so a surrogate’s escrow account is always funded to ensure she is always paid in full and on time.
2. No 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 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. 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 surro baby. At Circle, our surrogates have choices for her 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 intended parents, personally introducing 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.

When women apply to become surrogate mothers in New Jersey, they do so because they want to help others experience the joy of parenthood. While there is a monetary incentive to be a surrogate, surrogates enjoy an indescribable sense of fulfillment from helping intended families bring a child into the world. It’s a feeling that cannot be found doing anything else.

As a surrogate in New Jersey, you have the opportunity to earn between $50,000 and $60,000 in total payments and benefits. Surrogate mothers are paid a base fee of $40,000, plus additional compensation and benefits for milestones along their journey. New Jersey is considered a "high-demand state" for surrogates, due to its favorable location to airports and clinics.

Calculate your surrogate pay with our surrogate compensation calculator.

Surrogate payments are made monthly, and surrogate mothers start earning compensation and benefits even before they are pregnant.

Circle provides best-in-class surrogate support because so many of our staff are experienced surrogates – and they have shared with us the type of support needed on their journey.

• Support from our experienced team. Our surrogates receive top-notch prescreening, social work, and legal and journey support from the moment they fill out their application until months after they deliver. Our team is ready to answer any question you can dream of (and then some).
• Private social groups for surrogates. We'll also connect you with other surrogate mothers through private social groups, and you'll experience exclusive events with the Circle team.
• Experts you can trust. 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 near you with whom we’ve worked previously and who has a strong working knowledge of ART (Assisted Reproduction Technology) law. It’s just one more way we 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.

As a New Jersey gestational surrogate, the question of who you help is almost as important as your decision to help. After all, you and the prospective parents will embark on a monumental journey together. You want to be sure that you connect with and trust them fully. That’s why Circle Surrogacy built an extensive and thorough matching process.

As a first step, your Surrogate Support Team will try to find the perfect intended parent(s) for you based on personality fit and legal circumstances. You’ll get to review each other’s profiles, ask questions, and generally feel each other out. There will also be an initial Skype call and, possibly, an in-person meeting. It’s all about making sure 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 more. We’re confident you’ll be able to find a great match.

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.