If you're thinking of having a family through surrogacy, or becoming a surrogate, there are a lot of decisions to be made. The first, and arguably one of the most important, is whether to use a surrogacy agency. Here are some reasons to use surrogacy agencies as opposed to matching with intended parents independently or finding a surrogate without a surrogacy agency's supervision.

1. Reputable surrogacy agencies carefully screen surrogates through psychological screening, background checks and medical reviews.
2. Agencies have lawyers (or they should �?? make sure your surrogacy agency has a lawyer on board) to supervise and monitor the complex legal issues of gestational surrogacy.
3. Surrogacy agencies are there to manage legal matters and make sure that intended parents and surrogates have competent legal counsel for gestational surrogacy agreements as well as legal parentage matters and pre-birth matters.
4. Agencies provide overall direction and much-needed support in all aspects of the surrogacy journey. While surrogacy is legal and possible, there are a myriad of complexities ranging from state law to medical difficulties. All of these will be addressed with support and help from the surrogacy agency.
5. Agencies have trained staff that can coordinate with medical clinics to make sure your gestational surrogate is going to her appointments and being treated well at your chosen medical clinic.
6. A reputable surrogacy agency will make significant marketing and outreach efforts to obtain the best surrogates. For example, Worldwide Surrogacy commits substantial financial resources to use the services of an outside marketing company to assist with marketing and recruiting gestational surrogates throughout the United States.
7. Surrogacy agencies provide information, education and support. At Worldwide Surrogacy, there is a former surrogate (two-time surrogate) who is the lead support for surrogates. This trained staff member, Serena Lugo, has a wealth of information and knowledge from her own surrogacy journeys and from working with Attorney Ferrara at Worldwide for eleven years.
8. Surrogacy agencies are good at what they do. Seasoned professionals provide surrogacy matching so intended parents will have the benefit of experienced assistance with the most important event in their lives: having their children.

At Worldwide, we provide additional types of support such as gatherings and events. We recently hosted many gestational surrogates for a spa day at Water's Edge Resort in Connecticut, and our team is hosting a cocktail party for intended parents in New York this month. We take pride in providing our intended parents and surrogates with expert guidance and support, focusing our efforts on the best interests of all as they go through this wonderful experience of creating a family.