What is Embryo Adoption?
An all-new way to adopt, embryo donation allows parents with long-term infertility issues a way to achieve parenthood. In this process, intending parents adopt embryos instead of adopting a child. The journey starts with finding a willing surrogate, adopting the embryo and culminates in childbirth.
In most countries, at least one intended parent needs to be linked to the embryo for them to be able to legally adopt the child. For example, the sperm of one of the intended parents can be donated in forming the embryo. The name of the parent linked to the embryo is then put on the child’s birth certificate, enabling the legal adoption.
In a situation where the intended parents are adopting an embryo in a country different from their home country due to legal issues, one parent being linked enables them to take the child back to the home country after birth.
With the rising popularity of IVF treatments, fertility doctors have discovered a way to preserve embryos in frozen storage & thawing them later for implantation to willing surrogates. This process allows intending parents suffering from infertility to adopt an embryo and participate in the surrogacy process.
When is Embryo Adoption a valid choice?
When the parents are facing any of the following conditions, they are suggested to look for embryos for adoption.
- When both the parents are infertile
- Intending parents who are at a high risk of passing on genetic disorders to their children
- Women who have experienced multiple IVF failures
How is Embryo Adoption different from Traditional Surrogacy?
The processes are quite similar, however, the major difference is that instead of using the intending father’s sperm and a surrogate mother’s eggs, both the eggs & the sperm are obtained from donors. The donors themselves can be known or unknown to the intending parents as per their preference.
Important things to consider when opting for Embryo Adoption
When opting to adopt an embryo, intending parents have the choice to have the donors be anonymous or known to them. They can also be done on an open basis where the identities of both the donor and surrogate are known to the parents. In these kinds of situations, it is ideal to have an open relationship with the donors to ensure that the child is informed about their origin & biological parents in the most gentle and meaningful way possible.
It is important that the intending mother is capable of carrying the child to term. The same needs to be proven through a letter from her doctor stating that there are no foreseen complications with the mother going through pregnancy.
As the intending parent, you can select the medical fertility clinic where the surrogate mother will get treatment for the embryo transfer.
As an embryo adoption agency, once you submit an application to us requesting to adopt an embryo, we have a consultation meeting with you to match you with a donor family that matches your preferences.
Proceeding the matching process, the embryo transfer will take place. After which the treatment will continue similar to any other surrogacy request.
Embryo Adoption Process
Embryo Donation – Your journey starts when you and the doctor decide that embryo adoption is the most suitable procedure for you to achieve parenthood. The embryos are donated by parents who have undergone the process of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and have unused frozen embryos. These embryos for adoption are ethically & lawfully used for scientific purposes, or donated to another couple who is in need of embryos.
We match intending parents who choose embryo donation with adoptive parents through fertility clinics, embryo adoption agencies, or in rare cases, this procedure is not needed for intending parents who have already identified an embryo donor.
Embryo donors also have the option of making their donation anonymously, meaning they are generally not involved in choosing the family looking to adopt an embryo they are matched with and do not meet or exchange identifying information with the adoptive family.
Home Study – Like in any other adoption process, the intending parents will need to pass checks and inspections to ensure that their family is ready to raise the child born from an embryo for adoption. Checks are also conducted on the donor parents to ensure that the child will be healthy both during and after pregnancy.
Matching – The adoption process is truly underway once intending parents share information about themselves and the types of donated families they are interested in adopting from. Donors will similarly provide information about themselves, including their medical history, and the types of adopting families they desire for their embryos.
Factors such as age, race, income, religion, and existing children are considered when matching the families. The parents who match each other’s criteria will then receive profiles from matching donor/adopting families that they can choose from. Finally, if the families select each other and both agree to the match, we will move forward with the embryo donation process.
Legal Contracts – The intending parents and donating parents will then complete legal contracts to transfer custody of the embryos. In these contracts, the donating parents relinquish all rights to the embryos prior to the embryo transfer, and the contracts will give adoptive parents complete control over the pregnancy and parental rights when the child is born.
Embryo Transfer – Once contracts are signed, the medical procedures begin. The adoptive mother will likely receive fertility treatments to prepare her for the frozen embryo transfer (FET), which is a procedure very similar to IVF.
Embryo Adoption vs Adoption
One of the most common reasons for intending parents to opt for surrogacy is the genetic link they will share with their child. However, when it comes to Embryo Adoption, the parents will almost always never have any biological connection to the child. Thus the ethical question arises, would it not be right to adopt a child?
There are some differences adoptive parents should take into account when deciding which form of adoption is right for them. The biggest difference between adopting an embryo and adopting an infant is the pregnancy experience.
Parents who choose embryo adoption can carry and deliver their adopted child themselves, whereas parents pursuing traditional domestic infant adoption rely on the baby’s birth mother to carry and deliver the baby before she relinquishes her parental rights. The entire experience also creates a closer bond between the parents and the child.
One of the benefits of this form of adoption is the peace of mind parents have by knowing that their child received proper prenatal care.
What does Embryo Adoption Cost?
Thanks to advancements in medical technology, intending parents today have more options than ever to achieve their dream of parenthood. However, one major factor that may create problems is always the cost. At Global Star Surrogacy, you can be assured that we do everything in our power to ensure the lowest embryo adoption cost without compromising on the quality of care.
Depending upon your specific requirements for the donating parents, the costs will greatly vary. Some other factors to also consider are:
- Legal Fees
- Embryo Transportation
- Matching Fees
- Medical Tests
The embryo adoption cost is usually lower than that of international adoption or sometimes even local adoption fees. To get the best & most accurate quote, please fill out the form to get a callback from us!
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