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Family Source will not charge a fee until you have matched with your Egg Donor, and of course, consultations are free of charge. All prospective Egg Donors have been carefully pre-screened; this includes a thorough application, an interview with Family Source, a recent pap smear within the past year and clear background check results. If you chose to match anonymously with an Egg Donor, we will contact her to confirm her availability. If she is available to move forward then you are officially matched! If you opt to do a semi-open donation, the potential Egg Donor you choose will have the opportunity to learn basic information about you before going forward. If she decides she wants to move forward with you as well, you are considered matched! If you decide you would prefer an open donation arrangement, after you choose a potential Egg Donor she will be given your non-confidential profile to review. If she agrees that she wants to accept your offer to work with her, you are then matched.   An open egg donation agreement is one in which all parties have complete information about each other and everybody agrees, potentially throughout the life of the child/ren born via the egg donation, to keep lines of communication “open.” Once you are officially matched with your Donor, regardless of the relationship of the donation, the first 50% of the agency fee is due within five (5) business days & then you move onto the screening process!

A Note on Anonymous, Semi-Open and Open Donation

Family Source arranges anonymous, semi-open and open egg donation arrangements; however, if Recipient Parents come to us with a known Donor, we will certainly facilitate the process for a reduced fee. There are some major differences between the types of egg donation—we encourage you to learn more about what each entails in order to determine the route that is best for you.

Your Journey is Underway

Your Egg Donor will be scheduled to be interviewed by a Psychologist whom specializes in the area of third party reproduction, and will be administered the MMPI-2, which is a psychological assessment test. Please be sure to check with your infertility clinic if they require you to have a psychological evaluation as well, if this has not been done so already. Upon completion of her psychological evaluation, your Egg Donor will have the required medical screening done to ensure she is in healthy physical condition to move forward to donate.  This includes   a general consult with the Reproductive Endocrinologist to perform a full blood workup and a pelvic ultrasound.  Once an Egg Donor is medically cleared to move forward, the final 50% of the agency fee is due within five (5) business days. 

En Route to Parenthood via Egg Donation

Upon clear results of the screening process, you will work with a collaborative reproduction attorney to draft the direct contract between yourself and the Egg Donor. Family Source will refer the Egg Donor to an attorney as well, which this fee is INCLUDED in the agency fee. The Egg Donor will then begin her medication protocol to synchronize her cycle with the Recipient Mother’s (or the Gestational Surrogate’s) cycle. We at Family Source will absolutely go over all of the information with the Recipient Parent/s (or Gestational Surrogate) and Egg Donor to make sure everyone understands the cycle and medication instructions, as it is crucial that all directions are followed precisely. Following is a summarized version of the medication protocol: While the Recipient Mother or Gestational Surrogate is being prepared via medication and monitoring for the upcoming embryo transfer (if it is a fresh transfer), the Egg Donor may be directed to go on birth control pills for a short period of time before starting Lupron injections. She will be monitored via ultrasound and blood work at your clinic or a satellite clinic near her. She will then begin taking the follicle stimulating hormone which is used to stimulate the development of multiple eggs. Finally, the reproductive endocrinologist will instruct her when to take the final HCG injection, which will prepare her ovaries to release the eggs from her follicles. The retrieval will be scheduled for 36 hours after the HCG shot has been administered. Once the eggs are retrieved, they will be inseminated with the Recipient Father’s (or Sperm Donor’s) sperm for fertilization, and 3-5 days later, the created embryos will be implanted into the Recipient Mother’s (or Gestational Surrogate’s) uterus. Any remaining embryos will likely be cryogenically frozen. Please note that the Egg Donor’s full compensation will need to be placed in an escrow account prior to beginning injectible medications. We will happily manage the escrow account for you as it is included in the agency fee.

And New Life Begins

The Recipient Mother (or Gestational Surrogate) will take a pregnancy test approximately 8-14 days after the transfer. Although your Egg Donor is officially done with her egg donation role, this is the beginning of a much desired dream for you as the Recipient Parent/s—and the beginning of a miracle that has been created thanks to the gift of an incredibly giving woman.