Join us for our New Zealand Annual Information Day in Auckland. Hear from Local and Global IVF experts.
Learn how to grow or start your family as a single person, same sex or heterosexual couple. As an intended parent, parent, surrogate or expert, take the opportunity to network, share stores and learn from each other.
Fulfilling Your Family Building Dream!
Saturday 16 March 2024
9.45am to 5.30pm
Tickets: $20 – $80
The Parnell Hotel, Gladstone Rd, Auckland
- Those looking to create family- Singles, Same-Sex Couples & Heterosexual Couples
- Current and potential Surrogates
- Current and potential egg donors
- Industry Service Providers
- Network with IVF Experts, Surrogates, Parents and Children via Surrogacy
- Meet best in their field Lawyers
- Understand how surrogacy & egg donor options work in New Zealand
- Understand processes, costs, pros and cons in the USA, Canada & elsewhere
The Day
Fulfilling Your Family Building Dream is a full day event featuring panels of experts, parents, surrogates and older children via surrogacy.
Growing Families events are curated to provide the most up-to date information for those starting or on a family building surrogacy / donor journey.
Our interactive format provides advice, introductions and answers to questions, no matter where you are in your journey. We cover steps on how to first engagement with professional service providers to taking your baby home.
Ticket Includes:
Morning & afternoon tea, lunch along with a networking drinks & nibbles function.
One-on-One consultations with as many experts as you like. View the profiles of each speaker and email us to arrange your consultation meetings.
New Zealand Annual Seminar
Date: Saturday 16 March 2024
Time: 9.45am to 5.30pm
Location: The Parnell Hotel, Auckland
Tickets: $20- $80
The networking drinks provide an opportunity to freely talk with all expert speakers, donors, surrogates, parents who have completed their family and young adults conceived through surrogacy or a donor.
Growing Families have 11 years of experience supporting over 3000 singles and couples engaging in international donor and surrogacy arrangements.
Agenda
9.45 -10.00am
Overview Of Pathways to Parenthood
Outlines the differences between domestic and international donor and surrogacy, hybrid options and foster and adoption pathways. Donor & surrogate availability. Friends and family as donors or surrogates. Meeting online vs via agencies.
Sam Everingham, Growing Families
10.00 – 10.30am
The Altruistic Headspace
Relationship building, – Provides a Step By Step guide to NZ’s friendship-based Surrogacy model, maintaining relationships post birth. + Christian Newman provides an update on the popular Love Makes a Family independent matching platform
Ashley Shore, Sam Johnson, Christian Newman
10.30-11.00am
Medical Session – Egg Quality & Making Strong Embryos
Medical considerations & screening for egg and sperm providers. What can IVF specialists do to assess Sperm & egg quality prior to IVF? What impact does age have? Discusses embryo development, grading, Pre-Genetic-Aneuploidy Testing and how embryos are selected for transfer
Dr Danielle Lane, USA, Dr Clifford Librach, Canada, Dr Rahi Victory, Canada
11.00 – 11.20am
Surrogacy Expert Panel
Surrogacy Experts from the US, Argentina and Canada discuss the differences in how their nation approaches surrogacy
Cindy Wasser Canada; Lauri De Brito USA Ester Nunez –Argentina
11.20-11.50am
MORNING TEA
12.40 -1.00pm
Legal lssues & Govt Approvals
What is the purpose of agreements, are they legally binding? What should be included in these, Timelines, costs, processes what issues do intended parents need to think about?
Stewart Dalley, D&S Law,
1.00 – 1.20pm
Considerations in Selecting Where to Engage
What are the differences in timelines? What are the pros and cons of going overseas? How do surrogate match times differ? How do costs compare? Are there fixed cost programs available? How do hybrid programs work? What about Insurance? What factor does age, cultural origins & marital status play in my decision-making?
Sam Everingham, Growing Families
1.20 – 2.10pm
LUNCH CONVERSATIONS
Concurrent Sessions Surrogacy in USA Kathryn Kaycoff, Lauri De Brito; Cam Owens
Surrogacy in Canada; Cindy Wasser, Dr Victory
Surrogacy in NZ; Sam Johnson (dad via NZ); Stewart Dalley; Ashley Shore
2.10 – 3.00pm
Parent Panel
New Zealand Parents discuss in depth their journeys via Donor IVF or Surrogacy
Moderator: Cam Owens
Panelist: ; Mark Catley (dad via US); Nick Broadchoi (dad via NZ); Penny Matkin-Hussey (mum via US) AJ Seine (dad via Canada)
3.00-3.30pm
Concurrent Drill down Sessions Surrogacy in USA Kathryn Kaycoff, Lauri De Brito; Cam Owens
Surrogacy in Canada; Cindy Wasser, Dr Victory
Surrogacy in Argentina: Ester Nunez
3.30-4.00pm
AFTERNOON TEA & NETWORKING
4.00- 4.30pm
The role of Counselling in Your journey
Why is counselling so important? How can it help you navigate ? Does it have to be face-to-face? What are the typical issues that are red flags to be aware of? How can you be sure all parties are on the same page? Coming to terms with failed transfers and miscarriages
Andy Leggat, fertility psychologist
4.30-4.50pm
The Impact on Families
Children of surrogates discuss the impact on their lives of surrogacy, relationships with half-siblings and surro-siblings
Moderator: Andy Leggat
Soraya Watkins (17), Jole Watkins (15) Maddy Beecroft (8)
4.50-5.30pm
DRINKS & NETWORKING
Andy Leggat
Psychology Director, Fertility Associates
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Andy Leggat is the Psychology Director at Fertility Associates. She is a Health Psychologist, trained through Auckland University’s Department of Psychological Medicine and registered with the NZ Psychologists Board, and a registered Fertility Counsellor with ANZICA.
Andy has practiced clinically for the past 15 years. Primarily working with a physical health population, with a special interest in Chronic pain, gynaecological pain conditions, Oncology and Reproductive health.
At Fertility Associates Andy provides therapeutic support to patients undergoing ART procedures, addressing the interface between psychological and physical health, and provides implications counselling and support to individuals investigating gamete donation and surrogacy.
Christian Newman
Dad via surrogacy, Love Makes a Family
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After the launch of their Baby Daddies Facebook page in 2016, Auckland-based Christian Newman, and husband Mark Edwards, started to become a social media sensation. At first inundated with responses, after a three-month vetting process, all the potential surrogates had dropped out. The couple eventually found a suitable surrogate, 32-year-old paramedic Aleisha Hart from Nelson, in June 2016. Then in August, Newman’s 26 year old sister-in-law in New York stepped in to provide eggs. Francis Newman-Edwards was born after a four year journey. They have been the subject of a TV special and various magazine features. Christian will talk about the altruistic matching platform – Love Makes A Family
Cindy Wasser
Hope Springs Fertility Law, Canada
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After celebrating more than 20 years as one of Canada’s top criminal defence lawyers, Cindy Wasser thought she was retiring in 2008 to become a mother to the first of her two daughters created with the help of an egg donor and surrogate. Driven by her difficult path to parenthood, she instead founded Hope Springs Fertility Law, to guide, protect and advocate for everyone building families with the help of donors and surrogates. She has since grown Hope Springs into a leading fertility law firm, providing legal advice and services to hundreds of intended parents, donors and surrogates from across Canada and around the world, year after year. With her background in criminal law, and personal experience with surrogacy and egg donation, Cindy occupies a uniquely revered position within the fertility law community. She regularly uses this influence to advocate for stronger rights and protections for intended parents, donors and surrogates within Canada, and has become well-known internationally as a respected leader in this complex and evolving area of law.
Dr Danielle Lane
Reproductive Endocrinologist, Lane Fertility Institute, USA
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Dr. Danielle Lane of Lane Fertility Institute is a highly regarded reproductive endocrinology and fertility specialist Patients from throughout the world seek out specialized fertility treatment provided by Dr. Lane She provides many services including IUI, IVF, fertility preservation, alternative family planning, PGD/PGS, and many other fertility services.
Dr. Lane attended McGill University before completing her medical training at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, her residency at Yale-New Haven Hospital and her fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco. She opened the Center for Reproductive Health at Kaiser Permanente in Napa-Solano in 2005. In 2009 she founded Lane Fertility Institute. The Institute has grown to a multi-physician practice with a state of the art embryology laboratory.
Dr. Danielle Lane is committed to providing education for women about preservation of their fertility and developing lower cost models to improve access to care. She has built an organization focused on the core values of teamwork and collaboration needed to help individuals through their fertility journey. In addition, the continuous and rigorous professional development that permeated the culture at Lane Fertility Institute ensures that the organization’s protocols and laboratory techniques remain on the cutting edge. This is reflected in LFI’s consistently superior pregnancy rates.
Dr. Lane has authored many scientific articles and patient articles. Her research interests include developing patient-sensitive protocols, fertility preservation using oocyte vitrification, ethnic variability in IVF response, and improving fertility awareness amongst women aged 25-35 years.
Dr Rahi Victory
Reproductive Endocrinologist, VRC, Canada
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Dr. Rahi Victory is a Canadian trained obstetrician gynecologist with an American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology subspecialty in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility. Dr. Victory is renowned for his compassionate, individualized patient plans and approach to care. His extensive experience combined with an avante-garde approach have placed Victory Reproductive Care at the forefront of third party services. Dr. Victory is passionate about making sure every experience is an exceptional one and to that end he meets with every client, every egg donor and every surrogate, himself. Our priniciples are science, technology, communication and compassion. Dr. Victory’s only goal is your success and satisfaction.
Dr. Clifford Librach
Create Fertility Centre, Canada
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Dr. Librach is the Director of the CReATe Fertility Centre. A graduate of University of Toronto, he completed undergrad, graduate and a specialty degree in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Dr. Librach went on to spend 3 years at the University of California in San Francisco becoming a board certified Reproductive Endocrinologist and Infertility Specialist. Since 1991 Dr. Librach has been an Associate Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Toronto. He is a Co-Director of the University of Toronto Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome Clinic. He is the principal investigator in various clinical and embryology studies and researcher at Women’s College Hospital and University of Toronto. Dr. Librach has played an active role in presenting abstracts at various conferences and meetings. He is frequently interviewed for television, radio and print media.
Ester Nunez
SudAmerica Surrogacy, Argentina
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Ester Nunez is the owner of SudAmerica Surrogacy, an agency which has supported South Americans, UK and French couples with the help of a multi-lingual team. She is a family and surrogate lawyer and a partner in Abogados Numa. Ester is a member of the Bar Association of the City of Buenos Aires and the Bar Association of San Isidro as well as the Argentine Association of Lawyers for Gestational Surrogacy. Ester is a regular participant in congresses, seminars, courses and conferences, is the author of several legal publications and is fluent in Spanish, English & French.
Kathryn Kaycoff
The Fertility Agency, USA
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Kathryn is the co-owner and founder of The Fertility Agency. A parent through surrogacy herself, Kathryn understands just how much goes into the journey. heart-wrenching, & expensive Kathyrn wished she had met others who could have advised her. What was missing was an agency that would look out equally for the best interests of the Intended Parents and the Gestational Surrogates. Agency for Surrogacy Solutions, Inc. was her response. Surrogacy and pregnancy are emotionally turbulent, and Kathryn hopes to make the experience as simple and as free of anxiety as possible for everyone involved.
Complimentary One on One Consultations are available.
Lauri De Brito
The Fertility Agency, USA
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Lauri’s daughter was born via surrogacy in May 2005. Eighteen months later, the same surrogate gave birth to Lauri’s son. Lauri has experienced the depression and heartache of infertility herself. Like Kathryn, she too, had a career in television before infertility consumed her life. She was a producer/director/writer. But to Lauri, there is nothing more rewarding and ultimately as important as bringing a child who is so very wanted into the world.
Sam Everingham
Global Expert & Growing Families Director
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Sam Everingham is the Global Director of Growing Families. He has become one of the globe’s foremost commentators and researchers on donor & surrogacy trends and capacity. Through conferences, seminars and consulting he has assisted over a thousand singles and couples to plan safe and reliable routes to building families through surrogacy & donor IVF.
Sam has two daughters, Zoe & Ruby, via surrogacy and therefore is very aware of the issues, struggles and frustrations along the surrogacy path. With a background in public health and research he is also the author of several books.
Stewart Dalley
Fertility Lawyer. D&S Law (NZ)
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Stewart is a Barrister and Solicitor at D&S Law, Auckland specialising in the law relating to assisted reproductive technology, domestic and international surrogacy, and adoption, as well as immigration and refugees. His expertise in the field of surrogacy saw him appointed as an expert advisor to the Law Commission when it reviewed New Zealand’s surrogacy laws. Stewart together with his same-sex partner are the parents to children born as a result of domestic altruistic surrogacy. Stewart is a keen advocate for LGBTIQ rights and for access generally to assisted reproductive technology. In that regard, Stewart obtained a ground-breaking judgment in the New Zealand courts when he successfully argued the case for same-sex de facto couples to be able to be granted joint adoption orders. Stewart also represented a female same-sex couple in mediation with the Department of Internal Affairs, where he was successful in having the Department agree to change its procedures, and allow two women for the first time in New Zealand history to be named on a child’s birth certificate as “mother” and “mother”, when the child was born as a result of assisted reproductive technology.
Family Members Sharing Their Stories
AJ & Clive Seine
Dads via Canada
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AJ & Clive have been through both domestic surrogacy in NZ and twice internationally to have their two daughters, Bella and Ruby. Their close friend was the egg donor for both and, after three failed pregnancies with their NZ surrogate, they had Bella through Circle Surrogacy in the US with their surrogate Tonya. Ruby was born in Canada with their surrogate Curio, through the help of Cindy from Hope Springs Fertility, Canada. Through the entire journey their NZ barrister and now friend, Margaret Casey KC, has been a guiding hand and helped them achieve their goal of being a family of four.
Ashley Shore
NZ Gestational surrogate
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Gestational surrogate Ashley (29) is a mother of two boys living in Christchurch. During a Covid 19 lock down in March 2022 she was introduced via Facebook messenger to her IP’s through a mutual friend. The gay dads live in Auckland but are currently residing in Christchurch awaiting the birth of their baby due any day (early Jan 2024).
They were very lucky that most of the journey thus far had run fairly seamlessly with the distance between them. Lucky enough that the first non medicated embryo transfer was successful. A totally different pregnancy to her boys she eagerly awaits to bring who she has named her “ womb-mate” earth side and meet who they are. Ashley hopes to maintain a close relationship with the intended parents and womb mate post delivery
Fiona Dalziel
Traditional surrogate
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Fiona was a traditional surrogate for a couple she originally connected with through a surrogacy Facebook page. Baby Isobel was born in May 2023 and lives in Auckland with her dads while Fiona lives in Hamilton with her two young children. The families remain close and regularly spend time together, despite living in different cities.
Laura Beecroft
New Zealand surrogate
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Laura is a single Mum of two living in Taupo. She met her recipient intended dads only two years ago. They are from Auckland and wanted to use donor embryos – the first time this was allowed in New Zealand for surrogacy. Aged 39, Laura commenced what has been the most amazing, crazy and sometimes frustrating two years of her life . The first embryo transfer failed, but the second one stuck and after a great pregnancy in late December 2022, Laura went into labour – it required an emergency c-section but she gave birth to a baby boy – Beau . Laura maintains a close relationship with Beau and his Dad’s. Her own children also adore them.
A devoted Instagrammer, at one point Laura had 3000 people following her journey. She is keen to advise and help other surrogates and IPs. Check out her Instagram page – theirbabymybody
Mark Catley
Dad via USA
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Mark & Craig’s boys were born via US surrogacy with the help of The Fertility Agency. Their boys are almost 3 and 5 years old.
Mark will share about his experience at the upcoming Auckland Event.
Nick Broadchoi
Parents via NZ
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Nick and John are proud dads to Emerson born via domestic gestational surrogacy in New Zealand. Their surrogacy journey started in 2019 when John’s sister offered to be an egg donor, embryos were created just before the pandemic in 2020. They met with a number of potential surrogates that did not work out. They matched with the surrogate in 2022 and after a few transfer attempts they became pregnant. At the 20 week anatomy scan a congenital heart defect was detected. Emerson was born in May 2023, he underwent two surgeries including open heart surgery at six days old to repair the defect. He has received the all clear with annual cardiac checkup. Emerson is a healthy baby boy.
Penny
Mum via US surrogacy
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Penny and Alex became parents to Wilde in 2023 via international surrogacy in the US after an 8 year fertility struggle. Their family was created with the help from an amazing team from San Diego Fertility Clinic, Family Matters Surrogacy Agency, and the International Fertility Law Group. The wonderful Margaret Casey (NZ lawyer) helped them bring Wilde home to New Zealand. Penny is happy to share their story to becoming a family through international surrogacy, and help anyone she can navigate their own surrogacy ‘expedition’ to parenthood.
Sam Johnson
Gay intended Dads via NZ
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Tyler and Sam Johnson are a local gay couple who made embryos with the help of Fertility Associates for their IVF. They are working with a local surrogate Ashley in Christchurch and she is due to give birth early in 2024. Sam will talk about their experience of the gestational surrogacy process in New Zealand
Samantha Watkins
NZ Surrogate
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Samantha is a mum to 4 children aged 21, 17, 15 & 12 and foster mum to a child of 15, she has been married for 24 years. After seeing her Intended Fathers story on Facebook in 2018 and consequently spending time with them she became their gestational surrogate, carrying their son who was born in 2020. Navigating COVID and lockdowns put pressure on their journey but resulted in not only a wonderful child but an incredible relationship between their two families. The team attempted a sibling journey at the end of 2021, but after four attempts were unsuccessful the team decided to finish their sibling journey.