Episode 163 – Ideas for IPs (Intended Parents) in waiting

00:00
This series of episodes springs from my work with SASS, Surrogacy Australia’s support service. When intended parents, we abbreviate that to 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.

00:28
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, including spreading the word about your need for a surrogate, the Facebook group, Australian surrogacy and donation, and our Zoom monthly national catch-ups. The waiting game is hard, so I encourage you to stay as positive as possible, making sure you’re taking care mentally and physically, as this can be quite a draining experience when you don’t have much control over the outcome.

00:58
Focus on what you can control rather than those things that you cannot. Please also consider following us on Instagram and TikTok, if that’s something you’re on at Surrogacy Australia. And if you’re on Facebook, please follow our page and share it so others can follow along too. I have a couple of suggestions or links as I try to share different ideas each time I write to you. Some recorded webinar sessions. So Growing Families and Surrogacy Australia jointly hosted a webinar series in the past.

01:27
This two hour webinar has been split into videos which correspond to the sessions and panels that ran during the whole webinar. There are four that I recommend. One called Relationships with Surrogates, that was hosted by psychologist Katrina Hale, that’s about 18 minutes. Surrogates at the Start of Their Journey. And that 22 minute listen is with two SASS surrogates at the start. And that’s really quite interesting to hear about their motivations. A surrogate panel.

01:54
which had two surrogates who carried for gay dads, about 28 minutes, and a parent panel, which had two sets of parents, and that’s about 26 minutes. Other resources, now Narelle Dickinson is a clinical psychologist based in Brisbane and is extremely experienced in the world of surrogacy. She is the lead clinician with Lotus Health and Psychology, and two pages on her website I can recommend are, Surrogacy Counseling, as it outlines what is involved in the mandatory counseling for surrogacy.

02:22
and poses lots of great questions you might like to consider prior to engaging with a surrogate. Although some of the steps listed are specific to the Queensland law, many of the steps and ideas are relevant to all Australian states. A Churchill Fellowship investigation. Now, Narelle was the recipient of this in 2015 and investigated the implications and risks to Australian families considering cross-border surrogacy. Although this looks at surrogacy agencies overseas, there are many great reflections for all of us.

02:52
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 you’re all SASS members, you are of course most welcome to continue with SASS. And 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.

03:17
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 or as some of the others from the community are calling me your chat GPT. 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. Until next time, welcome to the village.