During the screening and matching processour staff will work with all prospective carriers
to ensure that they are healthy and physically capable
of carrying a child to term. We also make sure the
carrier has every opportunity -- through counseling,
psychological testing, and consultation with her
medical provider -- to appraise and address her feelings
about carrying a pregnancy to term and then surrendering
the child to his or her intended parents.
The screening
and matching process of our gestational carrier program
is as follows:
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- Applicants are reviewed based
on the criteria set forth by A Woman's Gift; upon
acceptance as a candidate, the carrier becomes
available for selection by intended parent(s).
- Intended parent(s) may bring additional requirements
or preferences to the choice of carrier; selection,
however, is a mutual matching process in which both
the carrier and parent(s) choose each other; the
carrier retains the option to reject intended parent(s)
for any reason and actual medical treatment does
not begin until the carrier formally notifies A Woman's
Gift that she is ready to proceed.
- After a mutually satisfactory selection has been
made, initial medical evaluation includes both physical
and psychological screenings (these may be performed
simultaneously or at separate times at intended parent(s)'
request).
- Legal contracts are signed and the next phase of
the process begins on a timeline convenient for both
the carrier and the intended parent(s) and as outlined
by the medical facility chosen by the intended parent(s)
medical facility.
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Medical screening includes:
- Evaluation of the carrier's uterus, including
cervical cultures and a pap test (which must be updated
annually).
- Blood work to screen for infectious disease, including HIV, Hepatitis, Syphilis.
- Other assorted blood work relevant to the gestational carrier medical protocol
(performed in conjunction with testing for infectious disease).
Results of medical testing are reviewed and the
gestational carrier is examined by a physician at
the appointed fertility clinic
(this examination
sometimes can occur prior to the medical and psychological
screening outlined above).
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Confidential Application for Intended Parents Using a Gestational Carrier