Surrogacy for intended parents
By the time most people reach this page, the research is done. What you want now is to know you can trust the match and the people guiding it. That is the part we take seriously. Whether you are a couple or a single parent, married or partnered, straight or LGBTQ+, building your family with your own embryos or with an egg or sperm donor, you are in the right place.
Do I need a surrogacy agency?
Short answer: legally, no. Practically, almost everyone benefits from one. You can find a carrier on your own through friends, family, or online groups, and some people do. But surrogacy runs across medicine, law, insurance, and a real human relationship that lasts well over a year, and a misstep in any one of those is expensive and slow to undo. An agency carries the parts that are easy to get wrong, so you can stay focused on becoming a parent.
Doing it alone
- You source, screen, and vet a carrier yourself, with no medical or background framework to lean on
- You coordinate the IVF clinic, the attorneys, and the insurance review, and you chase every handoff between them
- If the match falls through, you start over from the beginning, often months in
- When something goes quiet mid-pregnancy, there is no one whose job it is to pick up the phone
With Lily Baby beside you
- Carriers come pre-screened, medically and personally, before a profile ever reaches you
- One case manager holds the whole picture and keeps the clinic, the attorneys, and insurance moving in step
- If a match ends, we already know your priorities and present new profiles without restarting the groundwork
- You have a named person to call, and a team that answers, from the first consult through the day you bring your baby home
How are intended parents matched with a surrogate?
We start with your goals, not a waitlist. After your consultation we hand-select profiles of carriers who have already cleared screening and whose preferences fit yours, then we make a warm introduction. You meet, you ask the real questions, and the final choice is always yours. We would rather wait for the right person than rush you toward the next one.
See the full process-
We listen first
The consultation is a conversation. We map what your family looks like, your timeline, and any medical or relationship preferences before we propose anyone.
-
We weigh the things that actually matter
Values, communication style, location, and medical preferences such as embryo number, views on selective reduction, and comfort with multiples, plus the kind of relationship you and your carrier each want.
-
You meet, then you decide
We present vetted profiles and set up the introduction. If it clicks, we move forward together. If it does not, we keep looking. No pressure to settle.
How much does surrogacy cost?
There is no single number, and we will not pretend otherwise. Surrogacy cost is built from several moving parts, and yours depends on your medical situation, where your carrier lives, the insurance picture, and the choices you make along the way. We walk through every line with you in plain language during your consultation, so you can plan with clear eyes instead of guessing from a figure on a page. For the full picture of what the number is made of and why it moves, read our surrogacy costs guide.
What shapes your cost
- Your medical path. Whether you use your own embryos, an egg donor, a sperm donor, or a combination, and how many transfer attempts are needed.
- Carrier compensation and support. Set with the carrier, and shaped by her experience and where she lives.
- Insurance. What an existing policy covers versus what needs a dedicated surrogacy plan, which we help review before anything is signed.
- Legal work. The contract and the parentage filing, handled by attorneys licensed in the relevant state.
- Clinic and screening. IVF, medications, and the medical and background screening that protects everyone.
Is the baby legally ours?
Yes. In gestational surrogacy the carrier has no genetic link to the baby, and the law is built to recognize you as the parents, not her. The mechanism is a parentage order, and in many states it is a pre-birth order, signed by a judge before delivery, that names you on the birth certificate and directs the hospital to treat you as the parents from the first moment.
You work with your own reproductive attorney, licensed in the state that governs your case, so the advice is independent and genuinely yours. We keep the contract and the parentage filing moving alongside everything else, and we will not start a medical transfer until the legal groundwork is in place. Because the rules differ by state, it helps to see how surrogacy laws work where you live.
This is a plain-language overview, not legal advice. Your attorney advises you on your specific situation.
What a parentage order does
- Establishes you as the legal parents, by name
- Places you on the birth certificate
- Directs the hospital to recognize you at birth
- Confirms the carrier is not a legal parent
The match is the start, not the finish
Finding the right carrier is the headline. The work that follows is what wears people down when they do it alone. Your case manager carries it, and keeps every moving part in step.
Clinic coordination
We sit between you and the IVF clinic, lining up screening, transfer, and monitoring so dates and records do not fall through the cracks.
Legal connections
Introductions to experienced reproductive attorneys licensed in your state, and we keep the contract and parentage order moving.
Screening
Medical, psychological, and background screening for every carrier, finished before a profile reaches you, not after you have committed.
Insurance review
A clear read on what is covered and what needs a dedicated plan, so there are no surprises once the pregnancy is underway.
One case manager
A named person who knows your file, answers when you call, and stays with you from first consult through the day your baby arrives.
Donor coordination
If your path needs an egg or sperm donor, we coordinate that too, so the medical and legal pieces line up as one plan.
Built for the family you are building
Plenty of agencies say everyone is welcome and then design everything around one kind of family. We work with married and unmarried couples, single parents, international intended parents, and LGBTQ+ families as a matter of course, not as an exception. Gay dads and single fathers often need a donor alongside a carrier, and we coordinate both under one roof.
If you want detail on the process for same-sex couples and single parents, including the donor and legal steps specific to your path, we have a page for that.
LGBTQ+ and single-parent surrogacyTalk about your family
Fill out our form or call, and a real person follows up within two business days to talk through your path to parenthood.