6 Steps to Becoming a Surrogate in Colorado
If you’re considering becoming a surrogate mother, Colorado is a great state in which to live! Our surrogacy laws are friendly and supportive. Gestational surrogacy is a wonderful way to build a family when traditional pregnancy isn’t an option. Still, surrogacy is not a simple or easy process. It’s a process that will take a year or more of your life, so you will need to learn all you can about how surrogacy works in Colorado before you make your decision.
Adoption and Surrogacy Choices of Colorado has a team of professionals to take you through the process step by step. From the early days of “just thinking about it” to the postpartum healing process, we are there for you to provide support and resources.
If you or someone you know is interested in becoming a surrogate, please call or text us at 303-670-4673 (HOPE) or visit us at Adoption and Surrogacy Choices of Colorado.
Step 1: Deciding if Surrogacy is Right for You
Surrogacy is a wonderful gift you can give to a person or couple longing to become parents. However, the path of a surrogate mother is not an easy one. You need to make sure you’re mentally, emotionally, and physically prepared for the long journey ahead. If you’re married, you’ll need to make sure your spouse is supportive of your decision to become a surrogate. Not only is your spouse’s support important for emotional and mental reasons, but it’s also legally required in Colorado.
Ask yourself what motivates you to consider becoming a gestational surrogate. The answer should immediately be about helping a person or couple who could not otherwise have a baby realize their dream of parenthood. Though Adoption and Surrogacy Choices of Colorado is considered a high-paying Colorado surrogacy agency, money should never be your reason to become a surrogate mother.
Step 2: Undergo Screenings to Determine if You’re Eligible to be a Surrogate
Before the medical process begins, you will undergo multiple screenings and evaluations to determine if you’re qualified for surrogacy. These evaluations will include a mental health screening, a background check, and a physical exam. You need to meet a baseline in each category before you begin the surrogacy process. Mentally you need to be aware of the mental and emotional challenges associated with surrogacy and demonstrate a strong support network at home. Physically you need a healthy body mass index, to be of safe childbearing age, and to be a drug-free non-smoker. It’s also required that you have had at least one complication-free pregnancy and delivery. Legally you must be a permanent US resident who is not currently receiving any kind of government financial assistance.
Step 3: Match with the Intended Parents through Adoption and Surrogacy Choices of Colorado
Matching with your right intended parents is such an exciting step! Our Colorado surrogacy agency carefully screens both potential surrogates and intended parents. We put profiles together for each and try to find the best fit we can. You’ll each receive multiple profiles for potential intended parents, and Adoption and Surrogacy Choices of Colorado will help you connect with the person or people you want to help build a family. Once you and the intended parents have matched and want to work together, we move on to the legal phase.
Step 4: The Legal Contract and Surrogate Mother Fees
The legal team at Adoption and Surrogacy Choices of Colorado will help you and the intended parents agree on a comprehensive legal contract for the surrogacy agreement. The more details we cover in the contract, the smoother the surrogacy journey goes for everyone before the pregnancy. The more details we cover in the contract, before the pregnancy, the smoother the surrogacy journey goes for everyone. We want both our surrogates and the intended parents to be able to focus on creating a family. Our professional surrogacy team will help with the details.
Step 5: The Embryo Transfer Process and Pregnancy.
You are a gestational surrogate, which means you do not donate your own egg for the pregnancy. Your pregnancy will be conceived via in vitro fertilization, and you will have no genetic link to the baby. This step can be physically challenging and might have to be repeated multiple times before a successful, stable pregnancy is achieved. At that point, you can return to your regular OB/GYN for your prenatal care. The intended parents will participate in the pregnancy as much or as little as you pre-determined in your surrogacy agreement. You can expect to be in frequent contact with them throughout the pregnancy.
Step 6: Delivery Day and Beyond
The most thrilling part of the whole Colorado surrogacy process is the day you and the intended parents get to meet this new life for the first time, and you get to see a family created. It’s truly a joyful and wonderful experience which most surrogates find incredibly rewarding. Many surrogates stay close with the family they helped to create. Some decided together on only occasional contact. Others become an extended family for life. What you and the baby’s parents choose is entirely up to you and what works collectively for all of you. Regardless, you have given a tremendous gift by helping create a family.
How Do I Begin My Journey in Becoming a Surrogate in Colorado?
If, after reading the steps to surrogacy in Colorado, becoming a surrogate mother seems like the right path for you, contact Adoption and Surrogacy Choices of Colorado so we can help you on the first step of your journey.
If you are interested in learning more about your gestational surrogacy options, contact Adoption and Surrogacy Choices of Colorado by email, phone, or text: Email Us, Text us: 720-371-1099, Call us: 303-670-4673 (HOPE). If you are hoping to adopt, please contact us here.
Meet the Author: After graduating from the University of Michigan with a degree in Education, majoring in English and Social Sciences, Brianne Davis has spent her adult life as an educator; first in the public schools, later through martial arts. Her ability to convey difficult concepts, navigate varied learning styles, and always keep it interesting defined her reputation as an impactful instructor. Many of her early published blogs centered on the goal of helping other instructors effectively teach children for whom learning is a struggle. Once an empty nester, she committed to sitting in traffic less and writing more. With those goals in mind, she, along with her husband and dogs, packed up, sold their family home and moved to the banks of the Columbia River in Central Washington’s wine country, where the pace of life is slower and the sun shines brighter. Realizing in our modern age, more of us turn to the internet for information than ever before, Brianne, now dedicates her time to educating others through blog writing.
As a life-long information junkie, Brianne enjoys taking deep dives into new topics, then condensing them in an interesting way to convey valuable information in a relatively short amount of space. Once her career, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and mixed martial arts remain hobbies, along with boating, reading, and traveling.
Stephanie joined the Adoption Choices family in 2014 as the Child Placement Supervisor. Her love for adoption began in first grade when she made friends with twins adopted from Vietnam. Her heart grew strong over the years for adopted children and ultimately led her to graduate school where she continued her focus to her dream of working in the adoption field. Stephanie earned a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Denver in 2001. Over the past 15 years, Stephanie has worked as a pregnancy counselor and as an adoptive parent counselor for foster care, international adoption and domestic adoption, writing hundreds of home studies for families, and helping build their forever families. Stephanie is married and has three boys ages 12, 9, and 5. Together with her family she enjoys riding bike, playing games, watching her three sons compete in their various sporting and musical activities and go on vacations.
Christy Ikeler, is our Executive Director and Birth Parent Director. Christy has been with Adoption Choices Team for 18 years, since opening the doors in 2002! Christy has a true passion for what she does and her true love is working with and helping each birth parent. Whether she is up all night on the phone talking with them, taking them to doctors appointments, out for their favorite treat, providing counseling or at the hospital during labor and delivery, Christy is very involved every step of the way. She has a contagious laugh and a spunky personality that our birth moms all can bond with and relate to. As an adoptive parent herself, adoption holds a very special place in her heart and she can relate on every level with both birth parents and adoptive parents. In her free time Christy loves spending time with her daughter, gardening, baking and taking vacations with her family. Christy is an excellent leader for our team at Adoption Choices and is truly one of a kind!! As Executive Director, Christy spends time with the staff, birth parents and adoptive families in order to ensure that the agency is running smoothly. She has placed a huge emphasis on community outreach and programs for birth parents. Christy loves the opportunity to lead the agency into a brighter future.
Ms. Mackenzie has built a successful counseling career over the past 20 years, supporting mothers and families, people of all ages and genders, students, community professionals and fellow clinicians. Liv values a diverse professional focus, including the entrepreneurial life of a sole proprietor, the evaluative process of certifying foster/adoptive homes, the insightful and mindful one-on-one one work with enthusiastic clients, and serving as an advocate for underserved populations. Liv is a Licensed Professional Counselor and holds a BA in Pre-Law and Economics from American University, an MA in Counseling from Adams University and a certificate in Human Resource Management from Villanova University. Away from work you will find Liv spending time in nature, biking to the farmer’s market and adventuring with her family.
Catherine A. Madsen, joined the Adoption Choices family as legal counsel in 2013. Catherine is responsible for providing legal guidance to the Agency, training and updating staff on developments in adoption law and legislation, and program development. Catherine
Virginia Frank is an adoption attorney accredited since 1991 with the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys. Ms. Frank is a leader in the field of private adoption and has completed over 4,000 adoptions in her career. Ms. Frank has a law degree from Oklahoma City University and a BA in both Political Science and Communications from the University of Oklahoma.
Cassidie has been with Adoption Choices since 2015, she has her bachelors in Interdisciplinary Affairs with concentrations in both Sociology and Business Management. Cassidie has additional training in Victim Advocacy, foster care and has been working in women’s services for over 10 years. Cassidie has always had a heart for adoption and it was her career dream to work in adoption. She started off doing volunteer work for advocacy programs, adoption organizations and worked in High Risk Maternal Fetal Medicine through the University of Colorado Hospital and Children’s Hospital of Colorado. Cassidie is also blessed to have personally experienced an adoption of her own in 2012, completing her family of five! Cassidie loves what she does as a case worker from initial phone calls, meetings, doctor appointments, interaction with the adoptive families to delivery and counseling. Cassidie has a passion for those in need and strives to help make a difference in the lives of the people she meets. She is a firm believer in being kind, compassionate and open minded in all situations. “Unless you’ve walked in their shoes, there’s no place for judgment. A kind word or compliment can go a long way!” The bittersweet moments in adoption reminds Cassidie each and every time, why she loves what she does!