Will I have to pay anything as a gestational carrier?

Learn the answer to this week's user-submitted question about surrogacy in this week's installment of Ask a Surrogacy Expert! Have a question about surrogacy that you'd like answered? Submit it at https://www.brightfuturesfamilies.com/ask

Surrogacy Financial Responsibilities

The surrogacy journey costs are primarily covered by the intended parents, but gestational carriers (GCs) may need to pay some expenses upfront. Gestational carriers handle minor upfront costs with reimbursement through a third-party escrow company. GCs might pay for incidental expenses like parking during medical visits initially. Bright Futures Families surrogacy agency requires a third-party escrow account where intended parents deposit funds before the journey begins. GCs submit receipts to their agency case manager to trigger reimbursement requests to the escrow company. This system avoids direct money discussions between intended parents and GCs, reducing awkwardness and stress.

Bright Futures Families surrogacy requires surrogates to have a credit card before proceeding to prevent financial strain. This ensures GCs can cover upfront costs without disruption. The reimbursement process is designed to be smooth and timely, supporting GC financial stability. The policy helps maintain focus on a positive surrogacy experience rather than financial worries.

Ready to change lives as a gestational carrier?

Transcript:
Hi, it's Janelle Ibarra with Bright Futures Families. I'm their social media person and one of the things I do is answer Ask a Surrogacy Expert questions, and today is "Will I pay anything as a gestational carrier (or GC, surrogate), whatever term you'd like to use. While the costs of the surrogacy journey do fall on the intended parents to pay, there will be times when the GC is responsible for paying things up front, like parking for a medical appointment, things like that. Fortunately, a reputable surrogacy agency like BFF will require the intended parents to hold funds in a third party escrow account. The GC is responsible for submitting receipts to her case manager with the agency, who will then follow agency protocols to ensure that requests for reimbursement are submitted to the escrow company. The escrow company handles the disbursement of funds. That said, going through the agency and the escrow company helps limit those awkward conversations between the intended parents and the gestational carriers. Because we want you to enjoy the surrogate pregnancy, the surrogacy journey, we don't want you to have to worry about talking about payment and "Oh, can I get paid for that?" And things like that. Because it's, that's the point of an agency is we want to help you enjoy it, help it to go smoothly. Since we don't want the surrogacy journey to cause financial strain on the surrogate who may have to pay for things up front, as I mentioned, and wait for reimbursement into a checking account, we at Bright Futures Families require that surrogates have a credit card before they can move forward in the process. Visit our website, www.brightfuturesfamilies.com for more information.