When you first begin looking into surrogacy—whether you are a woman who is interested in becoming a surrogate mother or intended parents hoping to grow your family through surrogacy—it is natural to feel overwhelmed. Circle Surrogacy & Egg Donation created this guide to help you navigate surrogacy in Washington, including understanding the surrogacy process, becoming a surrogate, finding a surrogate, and much more.
If you are a Washington resident who is ready to start a surrogacy journey, the state offers many benefits for you as intended parents, including:
Local IVF clinics. Circle works closely with the most successful IVF clinics, many of which are in Washington and the greater West Coast area. Working with a local clinic helps 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. If you're interested in working with a surrogate mother who lives close to you, Circle works with surrogates from all over the state of Washington.
We're accessible. Circle Surrogacy's San Francisco Bay Area office supports parents on the West Coast through their surrogacy journeys.
Flexible consultation schedule. We are available for consults via video calls during the day and evenings. We also hold consults in Washington and our San Francisco office.
If you will be using an egg donor, you will need to match with her before finding a surrogate. You can search our egg donor database where you'll find bright, ambitious young women who are excited to have the opportunity to help you grow your family.
Circle’s 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 in Washington, you can share your preference with your matching team.
Once you've decided to grow your family through surrogacy 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. At Circle, this private meeting gives us time to get to know you and your story, as well as talk about surrogacy and the process as it relates to your situation. We'll help you understand surrogacy programs and costs, as well. We hold these meetings both in person when we can, as well as via video.
At Circle, our complimentary consultations are for those who are emotionally and financially ready to begin a surrogacy journey within the next 12 months. This private meeting entails:
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 provides simple, straightforward pricing to minimize unexpected expenses. We have fixed costs for Professional Fees, Gestational Carrier and Egg Donor Fees, and Medical and Insurance Expenses.
Circle offers an all-inclusive cost program for intended parents in Washington called the Journey Protection Guarantee program. This program is designed to help as many intended parents as possible bring home a baby while reducing variable costs.
Surrogacy only: $157,750
Surrogacy plus egg donation: $184,750
(both prices exclude IVF)
Our Journey Protection Guarantee offers Intended Parents:
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.
Finding your surrogate match can be an exciting part of your journey to parenthood. Circle works with many surrogate mothers from Washington, as well as most of the surrounding states. Additionally, our new office in the San Francisco area makes it even easier for surrogates and intended parents to connect on the West Coast.
Taking the time to think about what's important to you in a gestational carrier and journey will make it easier to find a surrogate on your own (if you're doing an independent journey) or to determine if your surrogacy agency has presented you with a good match.
Circle has an impressive track record for matching surrogates and intended parents - almost all develop strong bonds that last well beyond delivery.
You'll be asked to fill out an intended parent profile that not only allows our Matching Team to get to know you better, but also helps us match you with an ideal surrogate.
This profile is filled with information about you, your relationship (if you have partner), your family, your hobbies, your plans for parenthood, and what brought you to surrogacy. We'll ask that you also share photos of yourself, your loved ones, and anything else that gives us a good sense of who you are as people.
In addition to your profile, there are certain criteria that will be used to match you with your gestational carrier. Intended parent matching criteria include preferences on:
If you are doing an independent surrogacy journey, you can use the points above as guidelines when looking for a suitable match.
We recommend intended parents keep the following 3 criteria in mind when searching for a surrogate mother in Washington:
1. Does she meet the legal requirements? Our legal department ensures potential matches meet the requirements of Washington’s surrogacy laws before we present a surrogate’s profile to intended parents.
2. Do her personality and surrogacy expectations match yours? Your Matching Team will work together to ensure a good fit between your personality and the surrogate’s because we want the surrogate and intended parents to have a comfortable relationship throughout the journey.
3. Do you agree on expectations surrounding termination and selective reduction? Surrogates and intended parents should have the same views about the termination of a pregnancy in case a reduction or termination must be considered. Many intended parents we have worked with prefer to make the choice regarding termination.
It’s extremely important to find the right egg donor; she will provide half of your child's biology. Here are some questions to think about when you start looking for your best egg donor match:
The first place most intended parents start their egg donor search is in an egg donor database. Circle's egg donor database is easy to use and allows you to search by specific criteria, including:
Don’t worry if you're not completely sure about what you’re looking for in a donor. Circle is dedicated to helping you make a great match.
Since January 1, 2019, the state of Washington has a statute that recognizes contracts for gestational and genetic surrogacy arrangements. Washington's comprehensive surrogacy law protects the rights of the surrogate, intended parents, baby, and egg donor (if applicable).
Establishing parentage for surrogacy in Washington is a seamless process for everyone involved.
Surrogates are kind, giving and selfless. They love being parents, and want others to be able to experience that same joy.
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!
Ready to learn more? Read on!
At Circle, our Washington 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.
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 who become surrogates are generous, adventurous, and kind. They are teachers, medical professionals, and stay-at-home moms. They are passionate about their families. They are spirited, caring, and selfless. Surrogate mothers are special people just like you.
You must meet the following requirements to qualify as a surrogate mother in Washington:
Circle Surrogacy works with many women from the state of Washington. And with our West Coast surrogacy agency office, we also work with many parents from the area.
Women who live in Washington and apply to become surrogate mothers, do so because they desire to help others experience the joy of parenthood. While there is a monetary incentive to be a surrogate, the indescribable sense of fulfillment our surrogates get from helping intended families bring a child into the world is priceless.
As a surrogate mother in Washington, you have the opportunity to earn between $60,000 and $65,000 in payments and benefits. Surrogate mothers are paid a base fee of between $40,000 to $45,000, plus additional compensation and benefits for milestones along their journey.
How much you will make as a surrogate will depend on a few criteria: the state you live in, if you have insurance, and if you're an experienced gestational carrier.
Calculate your surrogate pay in Washington with our surrogate compensation calculator.
Surrogate payments are made monthly, and surrogate mothers start earning compensation and benefits even before they are pregnant.
Many of our staff members have been surrogates themselves, so Circle understands how to provide exceptional support for surrogates. Our surrogates receive top-notch prescreening, social work, 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).
Circle will connect you with other surrogate mothers through private social groups. You will have the opportunity to attend 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 in your area with whom we’ve worked previously and who has a strong working knowledge of assisted reproduction technology (ART) law. It’s just one more way we help make the entire surrogacy program as seamless as possible. To learn more, read our blog post about the 10 steps to becoming a surrogate.
We created the Circle Surrogate Promise to show how much we truly care about our carriers and that we want each of them to have the most successful and rewarding journey possible.
Carriers have shared their thoughts and improvements with our social workers or during their exit interviews. We took all of those conversations and suggestions to heart and improved 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 its intended parents, so a surrogate’s escrow account is always funded to ensure she is paid in full and on time, every 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 surrogate 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 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.
As gestational carrier in Washington, 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 see if you feel comfortable with each other. There will also be an initial Skype or Zoom call, and possibly an in-person meeting. It’s important to make sure both you and the intended parent(s) feel completely comfortable with the match. Only then will the surrogacy agreement only move forward.
Circle works with a wide variety of intended parents including LGBTQ+ and heterosexual couples, domestic and international couples, singles, and more. We’re confident you’ll find the right match.
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