We are pleased to announce Rhonda Levy is a featured blogger at Fertility Authority. Her blog, Own the Process with Empowered IVF™, is now live and the first post “5 Vitally Important Things to Know About Using a U.S. Surrogate” is available here.
Tag Archives: gestational carriers
Does Your Surrogacy Agency Conduct a Home Visit As Part of Its Screening Process?
One thing to think about when selecting a surrogacy agency is whether, as part of its screening process, the agency pays a visit to the home of a potential surrogate, at a time when her family, and any others living there, are also present. Some agencies do not conduct home visits as part of their screening process. In fact, some never have a physical meeting with their surrogates before matching them with Intended Parents, and interact with them and others in their lives by phone or Skype. Some agencies do meet with their surrogates and her husband or partner face-to-face prior to matching them, but the meetings take place in the agency’s office rather than in the surrogates’ homes. Unfortunately, some surrogacy agencies never speak with their surrogates as part of their screening process, and rely exclusively on applications that have been submitted online.
The purpose of a home visit is to reassure Intended Parents that the surrogate, who will be carrying their baby in her residence, lives in a home and in a neighbourhood that is clean, safe and stable. The home visit also gives the surrogate’s family, who will experience the surrogacy together with her, a chance to ask questions, in person, of a professional with deep knowledge of the process. Read More
Welcome to Empowered IVF™
On February 6th, 1996, the embryos that became our beautiful fraternal twin sons, Max and Lorne, were transferred into my uterus. Had you predicted on that life altering day that eighteen years later I would be launching Empowered IVF™, I would have looked at you like you were insane. After four failed IVF cycles, the only thing on my mind that day was hope.
But after eighteen euphoric (and exhausting) months of motherhood, my mind began to fill with new thoughts, thoughts of how I might be able to help other couples facing infertility. At first it was just a spark, but the the spark eventually grew into a fire, and today that fire is best described as a raging passion. In 1998, I began to work as an Infertility Consultant. With each phone call or email from a joyful client expressing thanks for the guidance that helped them achieve a desperately longed for pregnancy, I became increasingly hooked. I had never before felt such fulfillment and gratification, nor had I ever provided a service that made such a profoundly positive difference in the personal lives of others. It was addictive and I was in it for life! Read More