What You Need to Know About Surrogacy Benefits BEFORE Signing on the Dotted Line
The decision to become a surrogate is serious business. It is deemed “serious” in the sense that you are committing to carrying and giving birth to a baby on behalf of a mother/father/couple who, for many reasons, can not do so on their own. It is a “business” in the sense that a lot of money is on the line to successfully make this happen. As you enter into the process as a first-time surrogate it is important to keep in mind a few important things that are rarely talked about openly.
Without you, the surrogate, there is no baby, for those that can not conceive on their own. While this might seem obvious on the face of it, it bears repeating … and remembering…when setting the terms and conditions of your agreement with your agency and your Intended Parents. As a surrogate, it is ultimately your responsibility to make sure you are receiving the fairest base compensation and the best custom package of benefits that are structured according to your own unique needs. No one can advocate on your behalf or understand your individual needs as much as YOU.
Not all benefits packages are the same, nor should they be. One size does NOT fit all. Assembling a good benefits package can be daunting, even for the most experienced surrogate. So make sure your agency and your legal representative takes the time and makes the effort to fully explain your benefit options that are available to you under the agency program. The specific benefits available as well as the amount allocated to you for each benefit can differ dramatically from agency to agency.
For example, take the issue of Life and Complications insurance. There are different levels of coverage one can choose from in the very rare event of loss of life or should you experience a loss of reproductive organs. What is the amount of coverage? $250,000? $500,000? Is a portion of this coverage, should a claim be made on behalf by your surviving family, being split with the IPs? These are important considerations that obviously you can’t expect to know off hand. They need to be carefully explained to you as a part of your due diligence.
This is just one example of the complex challenges of constructing a benefits package that works for you. There are layers of detail to some of these benefits that require a careful explanation as well as your careful consideration. In the end, you want to make sure you fully understand the many parameters of your potential benefits package before you commit to working with any given agency. If you don’t feel that your agency is making a good faith effort in this regard, I would suggest you consider working with another agency.
At Jbaby, we always take as much time as the surrogate requires to patiently explain in detail the many benefit options that are available to her as a Jbaby surrogate BEFORE she commits to working with us. It’s true, sometimes this can be a time consuming process. But we always make this a priority when considering working with a new surrogate candidate, particularly a first-time surrogate. The reason we do this is because we want to set a foundation of openness, transparency, and support between Jbaby and the surrogate that we can build upon as we move forward in the process should she choose to work with us. By taking the time now, we can feel confident knowing that the surrogate is making the best decision for herself, from a fully informed place, not from a place of coercion or pressure from an agency that may not have the best interests of the surrogate at heart.
