Fulfilling Your Family Building Dream

Cindy Wasser practiced as a Canadian Criminal Defence lawyer from 1987 until 2008. In that year, she  became a mum to the first of two daughters through an egg donor and gestational surrogacy. This journey led her to her legal specialisation in Fertility Law. Cindy provides legal advice and services to intended parents, Canadian carriers and donors. Cindy has also provided legal advice to fertility medical practitioners and fertility consultant agencies. She has lectured in the area of fertility law at medico-legal conferences and hospitals.

Dr Uliana started her professional career as coordinating first international cooperation in Ukraine based on import of sperm and export embryos which developed into numerous international partnerships and has become recognized worldwide. She studied medicine in Lviv National Medical University and practiced in such countries as Ireland, Israel and Great Britain. Dr Uliana has over 12 years of experience in the IVF field, performed over 3000 treatment cycles for patients from 32 countries.

Natia has eight years of working experience with number of intended parents who have successfully completed surrogacy and egg donation programs in Georgia. Her activities include full program management and coordination, including donor and surrogate management for the successful completion of a defined program.

Over her years of journey in the field, she has successfully implemented more than 2000 egg donation and surrogacy programs. 95% of the clients involved in the programs are international patients from different countries, most of the couples participating in the programs are from Israel, China, USA, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Canada, Australia, Greece, Spain, India and other countries. Many years of work experience helps her to determine the couple’s priorities, identify their needs and help them achieve the desired result. Free consultations are available at: N.janadze@reproart.ge

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 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. 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. Earlier this year, Stewart 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 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.

Tamari is an experienced international fertility manager,  with a long history working in local and international health care industry, a Medical degree and a Master’s degree in Public Health and Health Policy. She initially ran programs solely in Georgia and has recently opened a groundbreaking surrogacy and donor program in Argentina. Her specific interest is in the inter-dependencies of global and national practices, in how policies are written  based on different regional contexts and translated into real medical solution to ensure better health outcomes.

Complimentary One on One Consultations are available. To book please email tamarikachlishvili@yahoo.com

Danni. was 31 when she met her IPs Ben and Sarah through Surrogacy in South Australia in 2017. Two attempted transfers using Sarah’s eggs failed transfers and another embryo didn’t survive the thaw. Her intended parents turned to egg donation, but Danni instead offered her eggs as well as the oven. She birthed a beautiful Baby Girl named Evie in February 2021. Their journey took four years and many medical hurdles.

Ethan is now 18 years old and was the first South Australian child born via domestic surrogacy. For the first time he will discuss his feelings about how he was created. It blows Ethan  away when he thinks of what his Mum and Dad went through to have him. The way Ethan proudly explains to people, his  Mums “oven”  was broken, so his Aunty Yasmin offered her oven which works perfectly.

After attending Growing Families events, John & his partner Alison engaged initially in Georgia, then unsuccessfully in Ukraine, before switching back to Georgia, where they shipped another batch of John’s sperm. They ultimately decided to work with two separate surrogates Mzakala and Ia, with transfers a few months apart. Owing to her work commitments, Alison was unable to travel to Tbilisi for the birth, so John travelled alone, welcoming his son in November 2022. Their second child is due in late February 2023. Completely committed to their quest for family, John will discuss what they learnt along the way, plus practical tips such as accommodation and current processes for travel documents for Australians

Marian is a parent from Adelaide. Shortly after becoming married, Marian was diagnosed with complicated auto-immune diseases which would put her and her baby’s health at serious risk should she attempt a pregnancy. It became their quest to find a surrogate through the online community. They were successful in engaging with their (now) close friend and surrogate – Brisbane based Rachel Kunde. While they experienced tragedy  when Baby Hugo was born with a rare, fatal neurological condition, they refused to give up. David and Marian welcomed MAtilda in June 2018 again with the help of Rachel.

Robyn and Michael Renyard welcomed their first son, Joseph, in April 2020 via Canadian surrogacy with the help of Create IVF. The couple had to navigate their way out of Australia and into Canada amid international border closures, within 2 weeks of their son’s due date. Miraculously, and with the help of their dedicated lawyers and surrogacy agency, they welcomed the birth of Joseph 10 hours after finishing mandatory quarantine in Canada. They welcomed a daughter, Emilia on 18 June 2022, born in Saskatoon to the same egg donor and surrogate. Robyn will talk about the process