Intended Parents

Becoming a parent through surrogacy, while full of excitement and joy, can bring people face to face with difficult feelings. From the very beginning, intended parents have to navigate complicated emotional and legal terrain. This is true whether you are going through surrogacy domestically or abroad, as well as whether you choose the altruistic or paid model. 

​

Irrespective of which family constellation and pathway you decide to go for, choices have to be made which can bring up painful emotional realities. These include, for example:
 

• choosing a donor (known or unknown)

• choosing between domestic and international surrogacy (sometimes logistics make the choice for you, and other times it might be more emotionally-driven)

• how to navigate the surrogate-IP relationship, given potentially conflicting interests and motivations which rarely get voiced

• navigating uncertainty (from embryo creation, to implantation, to pregnancy, to birth, to what comes next)

• facing losses (e.g. miscarriages, the loss of the wished for family, loss of fertility, breakdowns in the surrogate-IP relationship)

• building the life which comes after surrogacy

​

These are just some of the examples of experiences that IPs and surrogates tend to face at some point in their journey. Although there is a legal requirement for the 'implications counselling' in Australia, there is little in the form of counselling for the emotional journey that surrogacy entails.

 

I offer specialist counselling to individuals, couples and surrogacy teams looking to make sense of their experiences and work through potentially painful feelings or conflicts. In the case of surrogacy teams, this can be helpful in navigating conflict which can help to prevent a break-down in the relationships. 

​