What if COVID-19 Impacted Your Surrogacy Savings?

Deciding Whether or Not to Move Forward with Surrogacy

The COVID-19 pandemic has been globally devastating. Lives have been lost and countless people have been sickened. Looking at the financial toll of the pandemic can feel cold, but it’s a necessary reality for everyone. This is especially true for those who were hoping to become parents through surrogacy.

Many intended parents had begun setting aside money in anticipation of surrogacy costs, only to have those savings take a hit. You may be in a less financially secure situation than you were before, or you may have even lost your job.

Below, we’ll help you consider whether or not moving forward with the surrogacy process is right for you, and we’ll offer some tips to help finance your journey if you are able to proceed.

For Hopeful Parents that Haven’t Yet Started the Surrogacy Process

Deciding to pursue surrogacy may have been a difficult and thoughtful road for you. And when you finally made up your mind, excited at the prospect of becoming a parent through surrogacy, COVID-19 hit. Now you’re wondering if surrogacy is still going to be an option for you.

Many hopeful parents have lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic. Now, they’re facing the fact that they may not be able to afford surrogacy at this moment.

This can be extremely difficult to hear when you’re excited and ready to grow your family as soon as possible (especially if you’ve already been waiting or went through fertility treatments) — but it’s probably best to wait until you’re more financially stable. Surrogacy can be costly for a number of reasons, and it may simply not be financially accessible for many families at the moment.

If you (or your spouse, if applicable) recently lost your job, or you have suffered financial setbacks due to the coronavirus, it’s generally recommended that you take some time to become financially stable before you begin the process and put any money into surrogacy.

However, if your financial repercussions from the pandemic are minor and you’re still safely employed, moving forward with surrogacy may very well still be possible. You may still need some help in order to afford the costs of surrogacy, whether that’s intensifying your saving tactics, fundraising or a combination of the two. We’ll touch on that momentarily.

If you’re not sure whether or not you’ll be able to afford the surrogacy process right now, contact an American Surrogacy specialist for free. We’ll help you assess if you’re financially ready to move forward and offer financing tips to help keep things as low-cost as possible.

For Intended Parents in the Midst of the Surrogacy Process

If you had already started the surrogacy process and put money into the journey, you’re probably worried that those funds will be wasted — and that you won’t be able to keep moving forward, in light of the dangers of COVID-19. You and your spouse may have also suffered financial losses or loss of employment as a result of the pandemic.

This puts you in the difficult position of deciding whether to press forward or to put your long-awaited surrogacy journey to parenthood on hold, potentially losing the money you had already invested.

Unlike other agencies, American Surrogacy is fully committed to protecting the finances of intended parents any time they decide they are unable to move forward or need to put their journey on hold for the time being. We’ll never push you to continue if you feel you are no longer financially able to proceed. In fact, we may recommend you return to a financially stable point before you continue.

The surrogacy fees you may have already paid to our agency are protected. If you decide not to move forward right now, your last two agency fee installments paid to American Surrogacy will always be fully refundable — and your agency fee installment will never expire.

Your situation will be unique, depending on where you’re at within the surrogacy process and what fees you may have already paid. We understand that this uncertainty is scary. So, contact your American Surrogacy specialist to discuss what can be done to financially help you in your individual situation.  We fully understand that these are unprecedented times, and we’re here to help however we can.

Tips for Affording Surrogacy

Hopefully, the economic effects of the pandemic have not affected you and your family. But, regardless of whether or not you have taken a financial hit as a result of COVID-19, surrogacy can be difficult for many families to afford. Most people need to carefully save and find ways to help finance this family-building path, even before the uncertainty that the pandemic has introduced.

So, whether you’re financially in a position where you can move forward with your surrogacy process and you just need some more help to afford the costs, or you’re planning on working to build back up your surrogacy savings in the economic aftermath of COVID-19, these basic tips may be of use:

Take a savings break right now if you need to cover the essentials.

Put saving for surrogacy (and anything else) on hold whenever you need to. Make sure you can afford your mortgage/rent, bills, car payments, groceries and the essentials before you continue making deposits into your savings account.

It’s hard to take a break from saving toward your goal of having a family through surrogacy, but take care of your immediate needs first. When you’re ready, start saving again slowly.

Defer loan payments, or consider taking out a loan.

As a result of the coronavirus, lenders are giving extra leniency right now. This means that you’re more likely to get a good interest rate on a loan. Similarly, if you need to take care of more immediate matters before thinking about surrogacy again, you can probably defer any existing loan payments.

Debt is always something you should think about carefully before making decisions, but generally speaking, now is a good time to look into current interest rates and terms. Then, defer, or take out loans, as needed. At the moment, it could cost much less to borrow money.

Refinance your car or home.

Similarly, terms and interest rates on refinancing your car or home are good right now. Again, this is something you’ll want to think about, but if you were already considering refinancing, now might be the time to do so.

Cut out or downgrade as many extraneous costs as you can.

You’ve probably already done this, but it bears repeating that you should examine your expenditure and try to cut out anything you haven’t already slashed. Downgrade your credit cards, phone plan or subscriptions; tighten your monthly budget on things like eating out or entertainment (nobody can really go anywhere at the moment, anyway); and finally cancel that gym membership or cable subscription.

Reconsider adoption.

Ultimately, adoption is a cheaper option than surrogacy. But, adoption is not right for everyone.

Take a moment to learn more about it, or to reconsider this option in light of your financial situation. Feel free to contact our sister agency, American Adoptions, if you have any questions.

You may decide that you still prefer surrogacy to adoption, but it’s worth considering. We’re here to support you, whichever path you decide to take.

Start fundraising.

If your heart is still set on surrogacy and you haven’t started fundraising yet, now is the time to ask for some help. Keep in mind social distancing requirements — hosting a barbecue as a fundraiser is probably not the best idea.

Instead, offer a socially distanced car wash, sell handmade goods online, start a GoFundMe, or hold a virtual auction where your friends, family and community members donate items, services, baked goods or anything they can contribute.

You may have to rethink traditional fundraising methods in order to maintain social distance and safety, but that’s all the more opportunity to get creative! There are still plenty of ways to fundraise that keep health in mind.

Surrogacy can be difficult to save up for, even without the economic uncertainty caused by COVID-19. But we’re here to help however we can. Talk to your American Surrogacy specialist today about what can be done to help you continue your surrogacy dream.

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