Whether you are an intended parent or a woman who wants to be a surrogate mother, Washington, D.C., is a great district for surrogacy. While the process may be overwhelming at first, Circle Surrogacy & Egg Donation is here to help you navigate surrogacy, including the surrogacy and egg donation process, how to become a surrogate, how to find a surrogate and/or egg donor, and much more.
Surrogacy is one of the most intimate and monumental experiences you can have with another person. Couples and individuals from various backgrounds, ages, and sexual orientations who need help having a baby turn to surrogacy to grow their families. These intended parents include:
Every surrogacy journey to parenthood is as unique as the intended parents themselves.
As a leading surrogacy agency in the Washington, D.C., area, Circle has helped parents from the District of Columbia grow their families through surrogacy and egg donation for 25 years.
Washington, D.C., has favorable surrogacy laws for intended parents and surrogate mothers.
Circle has staff across the country, including in the Washington, D.C., metro area. Plus, Circle plans to open the doors of a physical office as soon as it's safe for our team, but for now, we are setting up regional intended parent meetup groups, local virtual events, and financing for qualified parents.
If you live in the Washington, D.C., area and are interested in growing your family through surrogacy, you can connect with a local team and clinics.
The surrogacy process involves many steps and professionals, so it’s important to understand the entire process, whether you are an intended parent or a surrogate mother. You may choose to undergo your surrogacy journey independently or with the help of a surrogacy agency. An agency like Circle Surrogacy with 25 years of experience can help you navigate the milestones and events throughout your journey so that you can focus on preparing for the arrival of your baby.
Here is an overview of the process for intended parents and surrogate mothers in Washington, D.C.
One of the first full-service surrogacy agencies in the U.S., Circle Surrogacy has been helping straight and LGBTQ+ singles and couples grow their families through surrogacy and egg donation since opening our Boston office in 1995.
Not every surrogacy agency is a good fit; it’s essential to find one that you have a good rapport with and shares your views about the surrogacy process. Beginning your surrogacy journey is a big step, so it’s important to do your research!
Surrogacy laws vary by state, so choosing an agency with lawyers knowledgeable in assisted reproductive technology (ART) and surrogacy law is vital. They will help you understand the surrogacy laws in Washington, D.C. Circle has a full legal team on staff that works exclusively with third-party reproduction and surrogacy law.
Intended parents will need to use donor eggs when they cannot or do not wish to use their own eggs. We specialize in matching intended parents with carefully screened egg donors who truly align with the family’s values and desires.
Learn more about finding an egg donor.
After matching with an egg donor (if needed), our Program Coordination Team will help you find the perfect surrogate match. We 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 Program Coordination Team.
Pregnancy is the time to continue building your relationship with your gestational surrogate. Many intended parents join their surrogates for medical appointments if they live close enough to do so. 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 with your new baby.
Once you’ve decided you’d like to move forward with the surrogacy process and you’ve selected an agency with which you’d like to meet, it’s time to schedule a consultation.
When you choose the right agency, you will feel comfortable asking questions and bringing up concerns, and you’ll feel supported through the entire surrogacy process.
If you live in Washington, D.C., and you’re ready to start a surrogacy journey, there are many benefits for you as intended parents, including:
In Washington, D.C., surrogacy costs vary with the specifics of the individual journey, depending on a few factors:
Surrogacy costs typically fall into the following categories:
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. Circle Surrogacy fixes the costs for professional fees, gestational carrier and egg donor fees, and medical and insurance expenses.
Circle Surrogacy’s pricing programs are structured to achieve two primary goals: success and cost security. Circle is the only agency that offers two truly fixed price options for intended parents in Washington, D.C., tailored to their specific circumstances.
Surrogacy only: $125,500
Surrogacy plus egg donation: $149,500
(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: $135,500
Surrogacy plus egg donation: $159,500
(both prices exclude IVF)
Our Journey Protection Guarantee offers intended parents unlimited transfers for a fixed price, plus the Circle Promise: We will refund 100% of our agency fee plus unused third-party funds if you do not bring home a baby.
Our Financing Plan is an option for qualified intended parents in D.C. who would like to make monthly payments on a large portion of the cost of their journey.
The first step in matching with a surrogate is to fill out an intended parent profile. We use this information to get to know you better and help our matching team find you a compatible surrogate.
This profile is filled with information about you, your relationship (if you are coupled), your family, your hobbies, your plans for parenthood, and what brought you to surrogacy. We 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.
In addition to your profile, there are specific criteria we use to match you with your gestational carrier, including your preferences on:
If you are making an independent surrogacy journey, you can use the above as guidelines when looking for a good match.
When searching for a surrogate mother in Washington, D.C., intended parents should be able to answer “yes” to the following questions:
1. Is it legal for her to be a surrogate? 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. Therefore, our legal team 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). Our 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 match IPs and surrogates who share similar views. 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.
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.
The first step to finding your perfect egg donor match is to think about the qualities you are looking for in her, such as physical attributes, race/ethnicity, and education.
A great place to start your egg donor search is in an egg donor database. Circle’s easy-to-use egg donor database allows you to search for an egg donor based on your specific criteria.
The District of Columbia is surrogacy friendly! Gestational and traditional surrogacy are allowed by statute for all intended parents, including those who are:
The D.C. courts allow pre-birth orders (PBO) for gestational surrogacy, whether the intended parents are using their own biology or donor eggs and/or sperm.
Both intended parents can be declared the legal parents in a PBO in the following situations:
Circle Surrogacy started working with surrogates in Washington, D.C., in April 2017 under the District of Columbia's gestational surrogacy statue. If you live in Washington, D.C., and you’d like to apply to become a surrogate, we’d love to work with you!
Each applicant must meet the following requirements to qualify to become a surrogate:
Women from Washington, D.C., will have the opportunity to work with local staff who can connect them with intended parents, virtual events, and support groups. We will be adding an office in D.C. as soon as it is safe to do so. Many of the intended parents we work with are from the East Coast. We make a special effort to match surrogates from Washington, D.C., with intended parents who are local to them whenever possible. Plus, Circle works with many IVF clinics close to Washington, D.C., reducing the amount of travel for surrogates and travel costs for intended parents. Other benefits of surrogacy include:
When women apply to become surrogate mothers in Washington, D.C., they usually do so to share the joys of parenthood with people in need. While being a surrogate has a monetary incentive, the indescribable sense of fulfillment our surrogates gain from helping intended families bring a child into the world cannot be found doing anything else.
As a surrogate in Washington, D.C., 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 between $30,000 to $40,000, plus additional compensation and benefits for milestones along their journey.
How much you will make as a surrogate will depend on a few criteria:
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 surrogates need on their journey. 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).
You’ll also be connected with other surrogate mothers through private social groups, and you’ll experience exclusive events with the Circle team.
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 who we’ve previously worked with and who has a strong working knowledge of assisted reproductive technology (ART) 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 a surrogate.
After deciding to become a gestational surrogate in Washington, D.C., it’s important to feel confident about the intended parent(s) you are matched with before you embark on this monumental journey together. You want to be sure that you connect with and trust them fully. That’s why Circle Surrogacy created 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 agree.
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.
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