Surrogacy & Donor Options for All - UK/EU event

Amanda is the Cycle Coordinator for Hatch and works closely with our IPs & surrogates once they are matched. Amanda is a 2x previous surrogate who is currently matched for a 3^rd journey .  She is a proud military spouse to her husband of 18 years and a mama to 4 children.  A fun fact about her first surrogacy journey is that it was featured on MTV, on True Life: I’m a Surrogate.

Anna is the founder and the Head Coordinator of Perfect Surrogacy Coordination Center. Based in the beautiful city of Odessa,, Anna is a Civil lawyer, specialized in reproductive law, fertility assistance specialist since 2012, certified interpreter in German and English. You can book a private consultation with Anna. Please email: [email protected]

Dr Tsakos has excellent English, has extensive, certified training in the United Kingdom. He is a fellow of the Royal College of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, a Board Member Representative of the Royal College for Greece and Cyprus, a  Board Member of the Hellenic Society of Assisted Reproduction and a member of the British, European and American Fertility Societies. EmbryoClinic has one of Greece’s few surrogacy programs with a ready availability of surrogates and state of the art IVF facilities

Complimentary One on One Consultations are available during the event. To book please email Elias: [email protected]

Kirsty is an expert educator on domestic and cross border donor and surrogacy arangements. Previously with University of Kent Law School. Her  research interests are in regulation of human reproduction and genetic technologies, particularly where these overlap with issues in Family Law; and the law of obligations  based on ‘relationship’ and/or imbalances of power. Kirsty played an integral role in The Surrogacy UK Working Group on Surrogacy Law Reform and the resulting report. She is now with London Egg Bank

Dr. Sahakian is a reproductive endocrinologist & IVF physician responsible for the birth of over 7,000 babies all over the world. Dr. Sahakian’s central focus is treating same-sex partners and anyone with social infertility. One of his proudest accomplishments is that with him hundreds of LGBT+ couples have achieved their dreams of having a family. Dr. Sahakian also specializes in treating patients with advanced maternal age, including postmenopausal women seeking infertility treatment through egg donation.

Complimentary One on One Consultations are Available with expert speakers. To book your expert speaker contact them via [email protected]

Georgina was born through traditional surrogacy in1998 with the help of COTS, the agency through whom her parents and surrogate met. Georgina has always been told about her origins and has kept in contact with her surrogate, half siblings and wider surrogate family. Georgina will finish her medical degree through Exeter University this summer and has been involved in the England and Wales Law Commission Review of Surrogacy Law and has spoken at the UN convention on the rights of a child.

Hanneke has more than 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry. She worked as Director of Marketing for Philips Healthcare and was based out of Europe, Asia, and the US. She joined the SurroPlans team after building her own family with her husband in Seattle. Originally from the Netherlands, Hanneke brings her fun-loving attitude and friendly approach to the SurroPlans team.

Karen Holden is the founder of A City Law Firm – a Legal 500 firm awarded for its progressive work in surrogacy and alternative families work including international adoption , co-parenting and donor agreements. It’s been a leader in this field since inception . Karen was invited & given freedom of the city for her pioneering equality work which is an accolade rare for women in London. Her team handle surrogacy in the UK, Canada , USA and have assisted complex arrangements in the Ukraine , Germany and recently Greece . They support you from thinking about surrogacy ; to starting your journey to the final legal elements in the U.K. granting you full parental rights . Also should anything go wrong Karen steps in and will assist with surrogacy litigation successfully gaining parental rights when things have gone wrong . Recent cases include : A Ukraine surrogacy denied , intended parents separate during the process and a U.K. surrogate refusing to sign the parental order all successfully resolved

Kirstin is an Associate and joined the firm in July 2016. She is regulated at the highest (Level 3) by the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner. Kirstin is experienced in business, family, long residence, nationality, visit and EEA applications. She provides strategic advice in all categories, specific to individual situations . Kirstin advises partners and parents of British citizens and those with settled status on their residence options in the UK, including applications outside the rules. She also advises EEA nationals and their family members on their residence in the UK. In particular, she advises LGBTQ+ couples on their residence options to remain lawfully in the UK on the basis of their relationship. Hailing from Canada with an Honour’s Bachelor of Arts in Criminology and Sexual Diversity Studies with distinction, and from Poland with a Master’s Degree with distinction in International Relations, Kirstin brings to the team a wealth of academic knowledge in international law, international business relations, international politics, human migration and human rights.

Maria is a lawyer and an accredited Negotiator. She was admitted to the Thessaloniki Bar Association in 2000 and has been a partner at NOMOS Law Firm since 2009. Maria is a holder of an LL.B and an LL.M. degree in Commercial Law. In 2014 Maria was also awarded an Interdepartmental Master degree on Medical Law and Bioethics by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Maria advises on assisted reproductive technology (ART) law and surrogacy issues. In her capacity as an accredited Negotiator she has accumulated extensive experience in handling complex and highly sensitive fertility and parenting law cases. Maria is fluent in Greek (mother tongue), English, German and Spanish, both oral and written.

Megan founded Surro Connections after seeing first-hand the need for this unique company both Domestic and Internationally. Megan is directly involved with every Intended Parent and Surrogate Mother who becomes a part of Surro Connections. Megan is the mother of 3 beautiful children, 1 born through IVF and has been a Gestational Surrogate for three other families as well. Her experience in deeply rooted careers after graduating with her MBA in both Business Administration and Accounting were not nearly as fulfilling as the work she does today with each individual involved in Surro Connections.  She has also met all qualifications to be a Mediator within the State of Oregon.

Michael joined Westkin in December 2017, having practised immigration law since 2005. Michael read Law at Birkbeck, graduating in 2012 with first class honours. Michael is regulated by OISC at level 3 and he has held accreditation under the SRA Immigration and Asylum Accreditation Scheme since 2006.
With many years’ experience in immigration law, Michael has assisted clients in every category of application. Michael is widely recognised for his sensitive, compassionate and understanding attitude, always gaining the confidence of clients, along with his pragmatic and fearless approach to achieving the best results. Michael is also renowned for having the highest level of discretion and professionalism, having assisted many high-profile clients throughout his career. He has given numerous talks and presentations on developments in immigration law over the past 10 years.

Nadine completed her first Surrogacy journey in early 2017 and is already on to a sibling journey for her Intended Fathers who live near her in Western Ontario, Canada. She loves the close relationship she has with her Intended Parents, one that embodies the ideals of an Altruistic Canadian Surrogacy program. Nadine is a single mother to a bubbling young boy, and she works as a Surrogate Support Specialist. She loves speaking to others about the beautiful gift of Surrogacy.

Naia has an MBA and is a managing partner of Be Parent Surrogacy, a unique full-service agency which currently operates in Georgia and  Cyprus. Naia has experience of working with several IVF clinics for over 7 years and this led her to start a unique, transparent, and personalized surrogacy journey for each intended parent. Be Parent team is like one family where all team members are united under one great mission to make your miracle of having a baby come true. Working for Be Parent Surrogacy is one of the most rewarding experiences she has ever dreamed of: bringing the joy of parenthood to over 250 families throughout the world.   Self-confident and goal-oriented, Naia is inspired by the rapid progress of Be Parent.

Donor Conception Network is a charity offering support and information to anyone considering donor conception (with or without surrogacy) as well as parents of children conceived this way and donor conceived children and young people.  They  do this through membership, a website, publications, workshops, the DCN Journal and telephone and email helplines. They offer contact and peer-to-peer support via our Welcomer team, our two annual conferences and 25+ local groups around the UK and Ireland. The organisation is parent-led and child-focussed, helping people with the social and emotional aspects of creating or expanding a family through donor conception

Nir Keren is an entrepreneur, business development and marketing expert, whose professional path took an unexpected turn when embarking on his and his partner’s joint journey to parenthood. After experiencing first hand the obstacles and hardships international Intended Parents (IPs) had to endure; he made it his life mission to support IPs in achieving their dream of becoming parents. In the process Nir had discovered Canada as a stable, moral and feasible destination for surrogacy and vouched to assist more IPs obtain their goals there.  By now Nir has dedicated his life to supporting IP’s around the world in having a smooth and straight-forward journey in Canada. He established ‘Babies Come True’, a concierge service for international IP’s that will help and support their entire surrogacy process. Nir and his husband Bob have recently welcomed their second baby via Canadian surrogacy and love to share their story with others.

Oksana is a 35-years old Ukranian surrogate, living in Pavlograd, Dnipro region and the mother of three beautiful daughters. She carried successfully for a US couple in 2018. That time Oksana gave birth to twins and she is still in contact with this family. Since then, she has begun a second journey for a UK couple with the help of Perfect Surrogacy Coordination Center (in Odesa and Kyiv, Ukraine). Oksana is also an active member of the Ukraine surrogacy community, representing the rights of Ukrainian surrogate mothers.

Rachel joined Ellen Embury n 2016 on surrogacy and fertility law. She and Ellen take a collaborative approach and Rachel became a partner at Carbert Waite LLP in 2019. She practices in the area of reproductive technology and fertility law. Rachel’s goal is to help simplify Canadian surrogacy journeys by expertly handling all related legal issues in a supportive, timely, and cost-effective way.

Sam is the dad to two girls Zoe & Ruby via surrogacy and as the global Director of charity Growing Families has become one of the globe’s foremost commentators and researchers on surrogacy trends, capacity and bst practice. 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. With a background in public health and research he is also the author of three books.

Suzanne is the Head of Embryology at The Centre of Reproductive and Genetic Health. She previously managed laboratories internationally and in Harley Street, London and is driven to provide the best possible care and success for patients. Recent achievements have seen The CRGH become the first UK clinic to provide physiological intracytoplasmic sperm injection (pIMSI) and achieve accreditation to become a leading training centre for embryologists enrolled in the STP programme.

As a dedicated case manager, Valerie supports intended parents from start to finish helping on their path to parenthood. Starting out on the exciting path of being a surrogate Valerie supports her clients each step of the way to make sure they are having the best possible journey.

With over 15 years in the financial services industry spanning from banking to overseas payments, Victoria heads up the relationship between A City Law and Lumon. Working together with Growing Families, Victoria, and the team at Lumon may be able to offer customers a simple, secure, and cost-effective solution to overseas payments requirements. They offer a personalised service to each of their customers and a dedicated account manager to discuss your requirements. Her team of experts have helped customers achieve their overseas payments goals, from planning dream weddings to starting their own families or buying holiday homes

Edvin and his husband embarked on their Surrogacy Journey in 2016, using a US Egg Donor and Surrogate they worked with the medical team at Pacific Fertility Center LA. After a quite long and bumpy road their daughter was born in 2020. During the journey Edvin and his husband experienced first hand how complex a surrogacy journey can be, and that even meticulous planning can not always guarantee a smooth ride. Edvin will share his experience and discuss potential misfortunes, but also what can be done to avoid them.

Hannah started her surrogacy journey when she was 40 after two natural miscarriages followed by ten failed IVF treatments where she and her husband tried with their own eggs, donor eggs and even a double donor – all negative cycles.  Hannah started a search online and joined a Georgian Facebook surrogacy group to get an idea of different agencies and their reviews. She and her husband flew to Georgia in October 2019, signed contracts and left her sperm . Embryos with a Georgian donor were created in December 2019 and first transfer was in January 2020. The first embryo transfer worked  and George was born in September 2020 at 37 weeks via c-section.

Following a very difficult labour with her first daughter as a result of complications from Placenta Accreta, Izzy developed very severe Ashermans Syndrome which fused her cervix shut and left her uterus covered in 90% scar tissue. Despite several attempts, it was never possible to fix this via surgery or treatment, and so in September 2018 she began the journey to having another baby via surrogacy. After a lot of research, Izzy decided that the US route was the best for her and her family, and so she enlisted the help of San Diego Fertility Centre to facilitate her egg retrieval in the US. Following this she signed up with the fantastic agency Surro Connections, who quickly matched her with the most lovely gestational carrier, Jessica. After a couple of failed transfers, Jessica was confirmed as pregnant in November 2019 and on 29th June 2020, baby Effie was born in Oregon, going straight into her Mama’s arms despite the travel bans and all the crazy restrictions of a global pandemic!

Richard is a 36 year old, corporate marketing director in London. He and his husband Dario, their young son and two dogs completed US surrogacy in August 2018 with Idaho Center for Reproductive Medicine and hope to embark on a sibling journey within the coming months

Shabana is a two time mother through Ukraine surrogacy. She is a blogger who has openly shared her experience and journey since 2016 and has supported dozens of UK couples who are going through infertility in a compassionate way. She began a second journey in 2018 which was a long and difficult path. She will discuss want she has learned and her experience of various Ukraine agencies.

Steve is father to Jayden, born in March 2019 through surrogacy in Canada. Together with his husband, they  started their  surrogacy journey end of 2017, and immediately knew they  wanted to follow the Canadian path, mainly for financial reasons, but also for the altruistic approach. They were matched with their surrogate in January 2019.  Prior to Jayden’s birth, they had weekly Skype calls with their surrogate and her husband.  Aside from weekly calls, they sent  regular messages through Facebook. During the course of time, they built a very close bond with our surrogate, her husband, their kids, and even their parents as an “extended family”. After Jayden’s birth, they  still having frequent chats  on Facebook. They love the bond  built with their surrogate; and had great support from Babies Come True whose team helped guide them through the maze of  a surrogacy journey.