Finding intended parents can be the most exciting part of your surrogacy journey. After all, these will be the people that you create an intimate relationship with while you make their parenthood dreams come true. As a surrogate looking for intended parents in North Carolina, you should settle for nothing less than the perfect match.

But, how do you find intended parents in North Carolina or another state that have the same surrogacy goals and preferences as you?

There are two paths for finding intended parents: with a surrogacy agency or fertility clinic or on your own. Which one you choose will always be up to you, so it’s important that you understand exactly how to find intended parents with these two processes.

Once you have found intended parents and been cleared for the surrogacy process, you can contact the Parker Herring Law Group PLLC to legalize your match. Our attorneys will ensure that your surrogacy goals and preferences are addressed in a surrogacy contract and confirm that this match is in the best interest of all involved. To start that process today, please call 919-821-1860.

In the meantime, if you need to find intended parents, learn more about how you can do so below.

Finding Intended Parents with an Agency

Many surrogates looking for intended parents choose to work with a professional matching agency, like a surrogacy agency or a fertility clinic. Because surrogacy laws vary so much across the United States, and because there are so many intended parents looking for surrogates, a matching agency provides a safe and clear way of finding intended parents who are perfect for you.

If you take this path, there are a few steps you will follow.

1. Choose a Matching Agency.Surrogacy agencies typically offer all the services you need to complete a surrogacy, including services to help find intended parents for surrogate mothers. If you work with a fertility clinic, they may be able to help you find intended parents but do not provide the same amount of surrogacy services that agencies do.Before choosing a professional, determine what services you desire in your surrogacy journey and find out if that professional can meet those needs.

2. Determine Which Kind of Intended Parents You Want.The matching process for finding intended parents is mutual; intended parents will also have the chance to determine what kind of surrogate they wish to carry for them. Therefore, the first step for both you and them will be to create a list of characteristics you desire in your surrogacy partner.You and your surrogacy specialist will create an ideal profile for intended parents you wish to carry for, like:
   • Age
   • Race
   • Marital status
   • Sexual orientation
   • Location
   • Contact preferences
   • Religious values
   • And more

   These intended parents will also need to fit with your personal surrogacy goals, like whether you want to be a traditional or gestational surrogate or whether you want to complete a commercial or altruistic surrogacy.

3. Create a Surrogate Profile.You will also need to create a personal surrogate profile that will help intended parents get to know you. This profile is essentially an introduction to who you are and what your surrogacy preferences and goals are.

4. Find a Match.Your surrogacy specialist will begin showing you profiles of intended parents as your own surrogate profile is shown to hopeful parents. If you find intended parents you like and they reciprocate your interest, your specialist will likely set up a conversation between the two of you.Your specialist will usually mediate this conversation, which allows you to get to know the intended parents better and ask any remaining questions you have about their surrogacy goals and preferences. When you are both comfortable moving forward with your match, you will start working with a surrogacy attorney.

5. Finalize Your Match with a Legal Contract.Before you can begin the medical process of surrogacy, you and your intended parents will need to create a legal surrogacy contract. This contract will address all the details of your surrogacy journey, including any compensation you desire and the risks and responsibilities for each party.This step must be completed by an experienced surrogacy attorney, and the Parker Herring Law Group PLLC can always assist you. Your legal expenses will be free to you as a surrogate.

Finding Intended Parents Without an Agency

If you want to find intended parents on your own, you will have to rely on yourself for guidance, but matching without an agency can save intended parents from the expenses of a matching agency. Without an agency, you will have a great deal more responsibility in the process.

However, most of the steps for finding intended parents on your own are similar to finding intended parents with a matching agency — the only difference being you will have to complete them on your own.

1. Determine What Kind of Intended Parents You Want.Just as you would with an agency, you will need to determine what characteristics you desire in intended parents. At the same time, you will need to determine what your surrogacy goals and preferences are. This information will comprise your surrogacy plan, which you will use to find intended parents who have the same preferences as you.

2. Find Intended Parents.If you are a surrogate looking for intended parents in North Carolina or another state on your own, there are a few different ways to find the parents who are right for you:
   • Personal connections
   • Social networks
   • Surrogate finder websites
   • Ads placed by intended parents
   • Attorney referrals
   • Fertility clinics

   Keep in mind, finding intended parents independently may take longer than with an agency. You will not have the same advertising and marketing capabilities, and there may be delays if you find intended parents who are not yet approved for the surrogacy process. But, many intended parents do in fact prefer to match with a surrogate without the cost of an agency.

3. Get to Know Intended Parents.Once you find intended parents whom you are interested in, you will need to make sure their surrogacy goals and preferences meet your own. This will involve some important conversations about serious topics — everything from compensation to termination of pregnancy. Because you will not have a surrogacy specialist to mediate these conversations, you will need to be in direct and close contact with the intended parents as you get to know them.

4. Finalize with a Legal Contract.Once you find intended parents who meet your preferences and you are confident the match is in the best interest of all involved, you can contact our surrogacy attorneys at 919-821-1860 to start legalizing your match with a surrogacy contract. Even in an independent surrogacy, you must hire a surrogacy attorney to protect your legal rights.

The Parker Herring Law Group PLLC can work with any surrogates who find intended parents with an agency or on their own. Once you have found intended parents and you have both been cleared for the surrogacy process, contact our law firm to start the process of legalizing your match. We have experience in this area and can help you get the medical and psychological screening that you need.