Surrogacy vs Adoption: What is best for your family?

Deciding to grow your family? What an exciting time. Are you looking into the Surrogacy Process or thinking about Adoption? When considering your options to grow your family, we at Midwest Fertility Law Group can help you gain more information to help answer these questions and any other questions you may have.  We have years of experience helping families grow, let us help you along your way.

Here are some questions that you may have regarding surrogacy:

What Is surrogacy?

When parents are unable to conceive a child, they can sometimes turn to a surrogate mother for help. In surrogacy, a woman agrees to carry a child to term for the parents, who then adopt and become the legal parents at birth.

Is Illinois Surrogacy-Friendly?

Illinois provides a strong surrogate parentage law through the Illinois Gestational Surrogacy Act. This, coupled with outstanding medical care, and a central location in North America, have combined to make Illinois in general, and Chicago in particular, one of the most surrogacy-friendly places. If you are considering surrogacy, a Chicago fertility lawyer can explain the process and rights for all involved. Midwest Fertility can create contracts and agreements to ensure a smooth surrogacy process.

Why Surrogacy Instead of Adoption?

If one considers surrogacy, it has several pros and cons over traditional adoption.

• Parents can have a biological and genetic attachment to the child. The parents can contribute an egg or sperm, and in-vitro fertilization techniques enable that child to be carried to term in a surrogate mother.
• Participate in the pregnancy and birth. Parents can accompany the surrogate mother to doctors’ appointments and also participate in the delivery process.
• Avoid genetic diseases and pre-dispositions. Genetic screening and counseling allow parents to understand any hereditary problems they may have. Parents can also select the sex of their child, allowing hereditary diseases that run in one sex or the other to be avoided.
• Parents can raise the child from birth. The parents leave the hospital with their newborn child.
• Surrogacy bypasses the adoption screening and court process. The adoption process can be quite lengthy and can involve agencies, mandatory courses, home inspections, and lengthy court hearings.

Here are some questions that you may have regarding adoption:

What Is Adoption?

Adoption is the legal process by which the birth parents’ legal right to raise a child is formally terminated and transferred to a new set of adoptive parents. This is the traditional method by which childless couples have been given an opportunity to rear children.

Why Adoption Instead of Surrogacy?

The review of adoption pros and cons shows several advantages of adoption.

• Adoption is considered a virtuous and altruistic act, as the parents are providing care for a child in need of a loving and supportive home and family.
• The adoption process is shorter for older children in foster care or orphanages and in immediate need of placement. Oftentimes, the process can be longer for younger children;
• Adoption fees can be less expensive than the medical fees associated with surrogacy;
• There are many grant and loan programs available to assist with the costs of adoption. Also, many employers and the military provide reimbursement programs to assist with the costs of adoption.

What are the costs?

Most surrogacy agreements provide that the parents will cover the medical costs of the surrogate mother. These can often be quite expensive, even reaching $100,000 or more.

While adoption can be expensive, with legal fees sometimes reaching $30,000 and more, there is no guarantee of success in the adoption process.

The surrogacy process is often procedurally more efficient. If you have questions about either process, you should contact a Chicago surrogacy lawyer.

Adopting or Surrogacy, Midwest Fertility Law Group Can Help

At Midwest Fertility Law Group, we work with a team of attorneys and legal staff in Chicago and across Illinois and the Midwest U.S. to assist couples seeking either adoption or surrogacy arrangements. We specialize in surrogacy agreements, as well as the agreements necessary for legal egg, sperm, or embryo donation. We can also draft the legal documents and actions needed to establish paternity when children are born from surrogacy arrangements.

In addition to maintaining an experienced legal staff, Midwest Fertility Law Group is in constant and direct consultation with fertility clinics, surrogacy agencies, and egg and sperm donation agencies. We also maintain relationships with legal professionals who can handle all aspects of family law affecting the lives of prospective parents.

If you are contemplating entering into a surrogacy arrangement or pursuing adoption and wish to understand the legal aspects of adoption vs surrogacy, contact us today for a consultation. Our team can provide you with a surrogacy lawyer and adoption family attorney in Chicago who will address your concerns with courtesy and compassion.