It’s just over 2 months until the New York Child Parent Security Act becomes effective on February 15, 2021! This law changes everything about surrogacy in New York – most importantly, it will legalize compensated surrogacy – finally! Since compensated surrogacy is still illegal in NY until February, surrogates and intended parents can’t officially start the surrogacy process until then, but there are definitely things NY surrogates and NY intended parents can be doing to prepare for February.

NY Intended Parents

If you’re reading this as a prospective intended parent, I’m sure you’re anxious to get started on your journey to becoming a parent.  You don’t have to waste these next two months. Here are some things you can be doing right now:

  • Finding an egg, sperm or embryo donor if needed. If you plan to use an egg donor agency or sperm bank for this purpose, you can be looking into different agencies and getting that process started.
  • If you aren’t already working with a fertility clinic, you can start researching various clinics. Review their websites, call with questions, and check out some of the fertility clinic review groups on Facebook.
  • Choose a surrogacy agency. If you want to have a local surrogate (which many intended parents want these days during the pandemic), make sure to pick a surrogacy agency who is fully familiar with NY laws because it’s different (and somewhat trickier) than in many other states.
  • Once you select your surrogacy agency, start thinking about criteria for your ideal surrogate. Talk to your agency about the matching process. Ask what comes after that. You can take this time to educate yourself about the next several steps (medical screening, psychological screening, surrogacy agreement drafting and negotiation, insurance) so they don’t feel so overwhelming when you reach them and you can move through them more quickly.
  • Chat with your financial advisor to make sure you’re on track to be able to fund your surrogacy journey. Your agency can help you estimate the total cost. Here’s some helpful information on the cost of a surrogacy journey: Cost of Surrogacy – New York Surrogacy Center (nysurrogacycenter.com).

NY Surrogates

  • Choose a surrogacy agency to work with. Under the current version of the CPSA, it’s safest (from a legal perspective) to work with NY intended parents. Make sure the agency you choose understands the unique aspects of NY’s new law.
  • Once you choose an agency, you can start your prescreening process. This will involve things like fingerprinting, child abuse clearance, STD testing, drug screening and obtaining medical records and insurance documents (more details here: Surrogacy Process – New York Surrogacy Center (nysurrogacycenter.com)). Some surrogates get this done in a few weeks, but others take a few months, so now is the perfect time to start!
  • Talk to your agency about your preferences for your match. Do you want to stay close to home for embryo transfers? How often do you want to be in touch with your IPs during the process? Do you have a specific type of IP in mind?
  • Tell your close friends and family about your plans to become a surrogate and give the gift of parenthood to another person or couple. This is a new concept for some people, so this will give them time to ask questions and adjust to the idea.

If you’re a New Yorker considering becoming a surrogate or a parent through surrogacy, we’d love to talk to you about the New York Surrogacy Center. With just over two months until compensated surrogacy is legal in NY, now is the perfect time to get started! In just over 2 months you could be matched and ready to start your surrogacy journey… We hope that we can be a part of it!