Episode 95 – What expenses are covered for a surrogate?

What expenses are covered for a surrogate? Surrogacy in Australia is altruistic as opposed to commercial which means surrogates have their surrogacy and pregnancy related costs covered by the intended parents, we abbreviate that to IPs, but they do not receive any payment to be a surrogate. Surrogates are ultimately doing it to see their friends or family become parents and that in itself is rewarding. The IPs cover all of the costs associated with the major planning stages

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Getting to know you catch-ups, travel, accommodation, counselling, usually with one psychologist who specialises in surrogacy, legal work, that’s two lawyers involved from different law firms, IVF clinic appointments and embryo transfers, pregnancy, birth and post-birth. Within those sections, we could list an enormous amount of items. Not all teams will need all of these as they are variable for each team, but some include,

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In that getting to know you stage and heading towards pregnancy, travel to appointments, petrol, parking, child care or after school care for the surrogate’s children when she needs to attend an appointment, loss of wages for appointments, removal of birth control, life insurance, obstetrics on her private health cover if you’re going down the private path. Then during pregnancy, medication, vitamins, laxatives, reflux relief, stretch mark creams,

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physio, massages, takeaway food, and or meal vouchers when she is too tired or ill to cook, and extra child care so that she can have a rest. During pregnancy again, maternity clothing, maternity underwear, maybe shoes if her feet swell, support pillows, post-birth clothing, recovery shorts which are often called SRC shorts, paying for a cleaner in the later stages of pregnancy and for a while post-birth, potentially even gardening costs and maybe dog walking.

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This will all depend on the individual team dynamics of course. The bulk of the costs in surrogacy are usually the IVF related costs, the mandatory counselling before pregnancy and the cost of the two lawyers to draw up the legal agreement. However, this episode we’re talking more about those expenses specifically for the surrogate. Costs related to birth are things like birthing classes, doula, hospital stay, a photographer for pregnancy, birth and even newborn photo shoots.

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support for the surrogate’s family post-birth, especially if she had a C-section, breast milk storage bags, pump for the milk, sterilizer, post-birth counseling, and this counseling might be ongoing for many months post-birth. Other post-birth things include physio, medications, supplements, reinsertion of birth control. In terms of lost wages for appointments, technically the surrogate would not use her own sick leave.

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Rather, it would be leave without pay and the IPs cover her wage. If her partner also needs time off work, especially after a caesarian, then the IPs need to consider this too. If the surrogate is a working woman and she meets the work test, she is also eligible for the government paid parental leave, as well as maternity leave from her employer. The primary carer IP is also entitled to both of these types of leave too. It’s the only double-diving that happens in surrogacy. At SASS we have an expenses calculator.

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It is a spreadsheet for SASS teams to help them to anticipate surrogacy expenses. It is a great discussion document for teams to take away some of the awkwardness when you need to talk about money and expenses. It includes ranges for the long list of expenses, as well as examples to guide those tricky conversations. Surrogates are notoriously bad at asking for reasonable expenses. This is one of the many benefits of being a SASS team for surrogacy to help with these awkward conversations.

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SASS is of course available to teams who already know each other as well as those who are introduced through SAS. 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. 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. Until next time, welcome to the village.