Episode 126 – Ideas for IPs (Intended Parents) in waiting

00:06
This series of episodes springs from my work with SASS, Surrogacy Australia’s support service. When intended parents, IPs, have completed their profile and are in the pool of IPs waiting to connect with a surrogate, I do monthly check-ins to make sure they’re still active and waiting. I like to give some guidance and support along the way because the waiting game can be hard. This series of episodes is designed as though they are a letter to the waiting IPs. I’ll add to the show notes some of the links I’ve mentioned.

00:36
including our SASS Monthly Report and a presentation I gave at the Growing Families Conference about how do you find a surrogate in Australia. It has been about six months now since you’ve completed all the parts of the application form, your profiles and met with your mentor. Six months to be waiting probably feels like a long time and can be quite draining. I appreciate that it is not always possible to maintain your energy for surrogacy when it is uncertain how long it will be until you connect with a surrogate.

01:05
Did you know that about half of the SASS teams that we support are not SASS matched? They either knew each other before surrogacy or decided to join SASS for our guidance after having met through the online communities. We feel we have the recipe for a successful journey and we’re there to support your whole team until 12 months post-birth. Two ways you are likely to connect with a surrogate are either through SASS or your own networks. In terms of SASS progress,

01:31
I’m pleased that we are continuing to grow as the first surrogacy agency in Australia. We have been around since January 2019 and have supported many teams over this time. I’ll summarize a few key points as I’m sure you have some level of curiosity about how SASS is going. We continue to invest time into social media for our Instagram, Facebook and now TikTok pages. Please share our posts from time to time to create a cheer squad of supporters from your own networks. The goals of being more…

01:59
present on socials are to help normalise surrogacy in Australia so that IPs and surrogates get less of the weird or judgemental conversations because surrogacy will become part of more conversations, to encourage and empower IPs to speak out about their need for a surrogate within their own family and friends, to hopefully encourage more crazy ladies like myself to consider being a surrogate for strangers, and to encourage a potential surrogate to look up the website for Surrogacy Australia and join SAS. m

02:28
Since becoming more present on social media, there has been a steady increase in the number of surrogates joining SAS, which is great. We continue to nurture and support these potential surrogates so that we can introduce them to IPs like yourself. If you would like to see a further breakdown of the numbers of surrogates and IPs who are engaged with SAS, see our monthly report. Since the other way of meeting a surrogate is from your own networks,

02:52
I encourage you to continue to talk about surrogacy with your friends and family as you have gatherings throughout the year. To take it one step further, if you haven’t done this of course, you might consider leaning on these friends and asking them if they could share your story and your need for a surrogate. Although one of your direct friends might not be able to be your surrogate, they might know another woman who might consider surrogacy.

03:15
It feels very vulnerable and requires some bravery to have to ask your current friends and family to go out of their way to have these conversations with others and also to ask that they each mention it in a different circle of friends and so on. This method of spreading the word is something I am very passionate about and I presented on this topic at the Growing Families Conference in June 2021. I encourage you to watch this presentation and then to share it with your networks.

03:42
As always, if you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. If you also happen to be chatting with a surrogate and you feel comfortable telling me that, I would love to know. If the surrogate is not yet a SASS member, I’m happy to help if I can by sharing information for you to pass on to her or arranging for her to have a chat with me or another experienced surrogate mentor. In the meantime, stay active in the community and try to attend a local catch-up.

04:07
Be that in person or one of our Zoom monthly catch-ups that we run through Surrogacy Australia, head to our website for dates and links. This is a great way to connect with your fellow IPs and surrogates from across Australia. If you’re looking for more support from me one-on-one, register for SASS at surrogacyaustralia.org and think of me as your Siri for surrogacy. If you are enjoying this podcast, I kindly ask that you share it with others or leave a rating or a review wherever you listen to the show.

04:36
Until next time, welcome to the village.