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If you have embryos still in Ukraine, it may be tempting to initiate a new surrogacy arrangement in Ukraine, particularly if your surrogacy agency and surrogate are agreeable. This is a highly risky and unethical proposition. Various foreign governments, including Australia, have announced that they cannot support safe travel or exit arrangements for newborns via […]
Thousands of couples and individuals in Australia are waiting for sperm and egg donations to help them grow their families, including those experiencing infertility, single women seeking motherhood by choice, as well as many in the LGBTQ+ community who require donor sperm or eggs to have a family. A ground-breaking campaign, Life. Pass it On. […]
Many of us have benefited from egg donors to have a family – now its our turn to give back by becoming a sperm donor. Over the past couple of years, Australia has seen sperm donor waitlists escalate because of the pandemic. We’ve also seen increased demand for sperm, with increasing numbers of single women […]
The global landscape is always changing. Below are some recent developments you should be aware of. * In Australia and New Zealand, there are important changes to RTAC guidelines around embryo shipping. We are holding a session on this at the Conference. * On 12 May, the Northern Territory became Australia’s last jurisdiction to pass […]
As Australia’s 11th consumer conference on family building options approaches on 18-19 June in Sydney, Growing Families director Sam Everingham profiles one of the many woman who struggled with repeated miscarriages over more than a decade, before turning with her partner to a US surrogacy program using donor eggs and sperm from her partner’s brother. […]
Growing Families has a decade of experience of working with government and agencies during crises to guide parents and their newborns through safe exit processes. These have included a military coup in Thailand, earthquakes in Nepal, sudden changes in laws in India and Cambodia and of course airspace closures in Ukraine during the worst of […]
I have been working in this field for over a decade and the intended parents who come most unstuck in creating family are those who try to rely solely on social media tips as their manual for family building. While the casual advice from past parents is well-meaning, every journey is different and this is […]
I am the Director of Growing Families and a dad via surrogacy and egg donation Its Sunday 24 October and I am in Sydney Australia on Day 9 of 14 days hotel quarantine. Why am I here you may ask? I’ve just returned from two weeks of face-to-face meetings with parents, surrogates, doctors, surrogacy professionals […]
This guest blog is from Karen Holden at A City Law Firm. Getting advice early and being prepared, can help you have a smooth surrogacy journey, but if it goes wrong it’s not the end of the journey. Traditional Surrogacy in the UK. There are numerous pitfalls of undertaking your surrogacy journey in the UK. […]
For the GLBTI community interested in family building, there is the choice of trying to make things work domestically or looking offshore. The easiest way to decide on a pathway is to meet face-to-face with both professionals and recent parents. In response, Growing Families is returning to its face-to-face seminar format in London and Dublin […]
As Irish mothers continue the fight for legal recognition, Growing Families returns to Dublin for the first time in two years to host its popular seminar series focusing on the latest developments in surrogacy and egg donation. With Covid-19 having affected travel and program availability and Irish legislators getting huge pressure to improve Ireland’s legal […]
The issue of COVID-19 vaccine administration in pregnancy is a really contentious topic. Various professional organizations have offered guidance that has ranged from a strong endorsement of receiving vaccination to a more cautious stance. Evidence is showing that pregnant women are a high-risk category. What this means is if surrogates contract Covid and this develops […]
Growing Families is running its fourth New Zealand Event for intended parents, surrogates and donors on 21 August after an 18-month absence. Like past events, this one will bring together egg donors, surrogates, parents and those hoping to become so. They will join experts from Canada, USA and New Zealand in a program to educate […]
On 19/20 June 2021, , Growing Families are hosting their first face-to-face conference in two years – Australia’s 10th Surrogacy & Donor Conference. Spurred on by Australia’s record low covid rates, the donor and surrogacy community’s need for connection, discounted domestic air travel and the desire to leave home, if only for a weekend, Growing […]
Surrogacy can fall into the categories of altruistic or commercial. Altruistic surrogacy means that the surrogate derives no financial benefit from being a surrogate with the exception of having her reasonable expenses of the surrogacy paid. Commercial surrogacy is the opposite, being an arrangement whereby the surrogate obtains a financial benefit beyond her expenses for […]
For those intended parents undertaking international surrogacy in Georgia or Ukraine, it is important to be aware that your baby or babies will be born stateless and that you will need to apply for Australian citizenship by descent before you can come back home. In order to prove a biological relationship, The Department of Home Affairs will […]
Lawyer, Stewart Dalley of D&S Law, has both lived and professional experience of surrogacy, having represented several people with their surrogacy journeys (domestically and internationally) as well as having three children of his own through surrogacy. Stewart is considered an expert in the field of the laws related to human assisted reproduction, including surrogacy, sperm, […]
What is a surrogate? The word surrogate just means appointed to act in the place of. Surrogacy refers to an arrangement whereby a woman agrees to become pregnant for the purpose of gestating and giving birth to a child for a couple or single person with the intention of giving that child to that person/people […]
It has been our great pleasure and privilege to have worked with Irish couples who have pursued their route to parenthood via surrogacy. It is essential that any person who is considering pursuing surrogacy as a route to parenthood must ensure that they are as fully informed about the process as is possible, that they […]
Giving Food to the hungry; Hope to the needy; Life to a baby Together keeping babies healthy as only breastmilk can. I am excited about being involved with Growing Families. I have already had the privilege of helping many intending mothers prepare for breastfeeding by assisting them induce lactation. It has been wonderful to support […]
This pandemic situation has brought everyone’s life to a standstill. So, if you are an intended parent looking for a surrogacy program, there are certain precautions and factors you must consider beforehand. Are agencies still operating surrogacy programs during the Covid-19 outbreak? Nearly all surrogacy agencies continue to accept intended parents, although in Georgia new […]
How ‘twinning’ Facebook emojis connected a couple to their surrogate When Mark and David began their surrogacy search, they had no idea something as simple as a Facebook comment could lead them to their dream of starting a family. For many couples and individuals who find themselves in need of a surrogate, it can be […]
When James and Sara first decided on surrogacy as a mode to pursue their parenthood dreams, their minds were full of doubts and questions. They checked everything – online reviews and experiences of intended parents who had taken similar journeys But they were keen to understand whether there was a ‘ best surrogacy agency in […]
Surrogacy is regulated in most Australian states & territories. This means there is no uniform law nationally. Currently, there are no surrogacy laws in the northern territory, Victoria and South Australia have progressed significant reforms recently. Commercial surrogacy is illegal in Australia Only Altruistic surrogacy is permitted and the intended parents have to cover all […]