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IARC Surrogacy

Surrogacy Agency  | 
Legal Service Provider
Bloomington, MN - HQ
About
Last updated on Nov 08, 2023 10:42 AM
IARC Surrogacy is one of the oldest and most reputable surrogacy agencies in the U.S. We have facilitated over 2,000 births for parents in 24 countries in our 42-year history. We are known for our highly expert yet highly personal care approach. We provide affordable, full-service administrative support and integration of all medical, financial, insurance, and legal aspects of this process while always remaining focused on the individual needs and well-being of all parties involved. You can count on us to provide a transparent, highly ethical, and personalized process for each step of your program. This is not a “one size fits all” process, and we help intended parents make customized decisions that are best for their needs, budgetary and otherwise. We offer complimentary, comprehensive education as you research how best to move forward with your family-building project.
Services
Last updated on Nov 08, 2023 10:56 AM

Surrogacy Agency Services
GC Recruitment / Advertising
GC Screening

  • Criminal Background Check - GC
  • Criminal Background Check - GC's Family
  • Financial Review
  • Psychological Screening
  • Home Visits
  • Medical Records Review
  • Carrier's Insurance Review
GC Matching
Case Management

  • 3rd Party Coordination (medical, legal, insurance, escrow)
  • Journey Guidance & Support
  • Travel coordination
  • Birth arrangements guidance / coordination
  • Postpartem Coordination
Billing Management
GC insurance review
GC insurance placement
Escrow Oversight
Insurance and billing support
Interpretation / translation services
Mental Health Counseling
Law Services
Donation Agreements (known and unidentified gamete/embryo donation agreements)

  • Egg Donation
  • Sperm Donation
  • Embryo Donation
Surrogacy Agreements

  • Gestational Surrogacy
  • Traditional Surrogacy
Establishing Parentage

  • Parentage Order
  • Related Adoption Services
Trust and Estates Services

  • Gestational Surrogate
  • Intended Parent
Promotions
GPAP Stage I Discount: 10% Annual quota: 20
GPAP Stage II 1 pro bono Agency Service(s) per year 1 pro bono Legal Service(s) per year
Membership Benefits Program
  • $150 discount off Agency Service Fee
Team Members
Last updated on Mar 13, 2023 11:55 AM
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Attorney Steven H. Snyder - Executive Director
Advisory Circle Logo
Steven H. Snyder, Esq., is the founding and principal partner of Steven H. Snyder & Associates and is the Director of IARC Surrogacy located in the U.S. in Minnesota. Mr. Snyder is an active leader in numerous professional organizations and is a frequent national and international lecturer and continuing legal education presenter in assisted reproductive technology law. Mr. Snyder regularly contributes to various media interviews and publications as a legal expert in assisted reproduction and third-party reproduction legal issues.
Provider Costs
Last updated on Nov 08, 2023
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Attributes & Policies
Attributes
Number of matches in the last calendar year that resulted in a pregnancy:   109
Percentage of international Surrogacy Cases (last calendar year):   50%
Percentage of LGBTQ Surrogacy Cases (last calendar year):   60%
Number of Families per Coordinator:   25
Average wait time for surrogate match (in months):   16 months
Description - "Additional Attributes":   Not provided
Languages (Business/Case Mgmt)?:   French, Italian, Finnish
Policies
Conducts IP Background checks:   Yes
Recruits surrogates open to carrying twins:   No
Requires embryos to be PGT-A tested:   No
Agency fee payment schedule:   $10,000 at sign up. $10,000 upon match and signing of surrogacy agreement. $9,500 at end of first trimester of pregnancy.
Requires a non-refundable commencement/retainer fee:   Yes
Non-refundable Commencement / Retainer Fee:   $10000
Monthly allowance duration policy - start milestone:   At contract
Monthly allowance duration policy - end milestone:   2 months post delivery
Minimum GC life insurance coverage amount:   $250,000
Rematch Fee Required under the following terms:   Never
Supplemental agency fee for multiples:   No
Supplemental agency fee for multiples amount:   Not provided
Work with independent matches for a discount:   Yes
Refund Policy:   All agency fees are non-refundable once paid.
Timing of refunding unused journey funds:   $6,000 retained until 6 months after pregnancy. $1,000 retained until 12 months after pregnancy.
Available financing options:   MHB GPAP I and GPAP II.
Sibling journey policy
Fee reduces by $4,000 if a new surrogate is required; fee reduced by $6,000 if previous surrogate is used.
Additional Policies / Clarifications:   Not provided
Reviews
(2022, USA parents) Despite several failed embryo transfers and a surrogate rematch, IARC has been very supportive and flexible during our journey, making the obstacles more bearable. We ended up having a beautiful healthy baby boy.
Approved
(2021, International parents) A journey to parenthood is a very personal. Setting out on this road, you want to be surrounded by people who make you feel that they have your back. We are very lucky that IARC, and with it the many persons behind the name, has crossed our path. We were promised that we would become part of a larger family, and so it happened. We are now part of the IARC-family. All along our journey we were expertly guided by our case coordinator and the legal team. Every question was answered, every 'difficulty' was dealt with, even when the -obligatory and inescapable- paperwork seemed overwhelming or when our travel documents needed to be applied for. Every promise IARC made, they have kept. If our journey as such wasn't already unusual enough, COVID19 was present to spice up the mix. In afterthought though, back home holding our baby, the whole experience has felt like the proverbial 'walk in the park' for us. We are grateful for the dedication and warm care of the people who made this 'walk' possible, even under said circumstances. Our gratitude is borderless.
Approved
(2020, USA parents) The staff at IARC were incredibly professional, detailed and highly competent. Their communication skills exceeded our expectations and made the journey so much easier. Everyone we dealt with at IARC was kind, compassionate and supportive - it felt like we inherited an entire team of support staff.
Approved
(2020, USA parents) Super responsive, professional, caring, my surrogate match could not have been better. Highest recommendations.
Approved
(2020, International parents) Surrogacy can be a long and intricated process, and imagine it combined with a world pandemic! We are so happy to have had IARC with us in this journey as they are very knowledgeable and helped us in every step of the process. Communication has been great: clear, fluent and fast. We totally recommend IARC and we are truly grateful of the great support we have received from our coordinator and everyone at IARC. They made us feel like a family. The matching process might take a bit longer than other agencies, but they matched us with the best surrogate ever. We will for sure choose them if we were to do surrogacy again.
Approved
(2019, International parents) A very good agency but has a long queue. Hence even if you want to transfer only a single embryo, you must wait a year or more till you are introduced to a potential surrogate. A post birth order is common in their practice. this enables one to use the surrogate medical insurance for the newborn, if needed. In addition, if you are a citizen of a European country, which requires a mother name on the birth certificate, one can get two birth certificates. The first with the surrogate's name. After a court process one receives a second certificate without her name, which is good for the USA and Israel.
Approved
(2018, International parents) IARC has been an excellent partner in building our family. We cannot describe fully how wonderful they have been.
Approved
(2018, International parents) make me have a large bill for failed surrogate medical screening and also IVF procedure, IRAC sells package with particular clinic and grab moneny ___________________________________________________________________________RESPONSE FROM IARC: We first want to express that we are sorry this client ended the process with these feelings. It is extremely important to us that we are immediately available when unexpected situations arise, so this review comes as a surprise and is out-of-character from the positive experiences listed here. Our values include giving personalized care to address each client's needs successfully, as well as being accountable if we could have prevented an undesirable outcome. In direct response to this review, we give each client multiple clinic recommendations. Our recommended clinics are based on objective factors (success rates, cost, past clients' experiences). This assessment is made annually, as clinics change over time. We work with each client to understand their criteria and recommend clinics best suited for them. Regarding costs for failed surrogate medical screening, this is extremely uncommon based on our extensive prescreening process and the clinic approving the surrogate's records before incurring that cost. However, unpredictable results can arise. We charge no additional fees for rematching (in any situation) and advocate for discounts to reduce costs at the clinic whenever warranted. We welcome this client to contact us and are sincerely disappointed their process ended with these unresolved feelings.
Approved
(2017, USA parents) IARC were so helpful. Our co-ordinator Kim kept in touch with us and our gestational surrogate throughout the process and facilitated clear communication.
Approved
(2016, International parents) IARC staff was very professional and knowledgeable about the process. They matched us with a wonderful surrogate which made our journey very smooth. However, their waiting periods for matching is extremely long, we waited 13 months which was considered very long in 2015. We also felt they were lagging during the drafting and signing of the contract, it took us almost 3 months to complete the negotiations and signing and all of the delays caused by lack of attention on IARC side. Both us and the our surrogate got a bit frustrated during the process due to their slow responses. The pregnancy was pretty much uneventful and our surrogate was on top of everything so we needed very little help from IARC. I think the most frustrating part was the legal proceeding after the birth. We needed to wait almost 2 weeks to get a court date. On the communications with IARC we were led to believe that the reason for that was backlog in the court but later we learned the reason was that the leading attorney was on vacation and we actually needed to wait for him to come back! We would have expected to get to know this was the reason and be offered another attorney. We also felt that the way they "surprised" with the additional legal fees toward the end of the process lacked transparency. We would have appreciated if they mentioned it from the beginning letting us the option to look for alternatives. With all that said, we still feel the IARC is a good & trustworthy agency, if you decide to choose them you should just keep in mind those points. ________________________________________________________ RESPONSE FROM IARC: We thank these clients for thoughtfully posting this review. It is through feedback like this that we can assess and become the best choice for many aspiring parents! It is particularly gratifying that, despite their observations of possible improvements, these clients still maintain that they would recommend IARC to others. This client did, unfortunately, have a longer-than-estimated wait time for their surrogate match. Every effort is made to provide our intended parents with realistic expectations at the start of their journey; however, there are a few pieces that can be outside of IARC's control, despite our diligent efforts to keep the process moving along. The specific factors in this case that were beyond IARC's control included: *A wave of sign ups all at the same time that temporarily extended IARC's matching timeline *Lengthy outside attorney reviews of the surrogacy contract *A maternity leave of our associate attorney and an unexpected saturation of parentage hearings during the Thanksgiving holiday season, which left us without a backup during an unusually busy time We are continuing to focus on lowering surrogate matching timelines, maintaining up-to-date comprehensive cost estimates, and maintaining transparent communication with all parties. These are priorities in IARC's core values.
Approved
(2016, International parents) IARC was very professional and helpful throughout this journey. I really have no complaints about their capability or service level.
Approved
(2015, International parents) Very supportive throughout the process. Inevitably there were occasionally administrative snags but these were resolved. They had very good links to fertility clinics. They also facilitated good post-birth legal support through the associated law firm.
Approved
(2015, USA parents) All in all, very professional. There were a couple of hiccups but everything was resoled well. I ended up having identical twins, which through me for a loop, and the agency really helped me deal effectively with that. Their selection of a surrogate was top-notch. I was particularly impressed by Steve Snyder's legal work at the end.
Approved
(2015, International parents) We were matched with a surrogate we felt truly comfortable with; she has been very committed and empathetic. The staff is very friendly and professional. They absolutely know what they are doing andhave a lot of experience in their field. In every respect -matching, finding a clinic, insurance matters, accounting and finding an apartment- they did a good job. We felt it to be a big advantage that IARC's director, Steve Snyder, is a lawyer who takes care of all the legal matters, too. He also knows about the legal necessities in the intended parents' countries of origin. The contracts he drafts are very thorough but comprehensible. The legal process after delivery was unbelievably fast (two weeks and two days for obtaining the passport) thanks to him and his paralegals, who always responded within hours and were very efficient. Also, their staff is very international, so they have a good understanding for cultural peculiarities in the relationship between foreign intended parents and US surrogates. Something to improve would be: First, that the waiting list is rather long (we waited 10 months to be matched). And second, that our case manager during the pregnancy changed two times. Whereas we felt comfortable with this, it could have been an issue if our pregnancy had not been so unproblematic: In fact, our second case manager forgot to pay the bill monthly premium for our surrogate's insurance plan four months in a row, so that the insurance company terminated the policy in the middle of the pregnancy. This could have caused a financial disaster. However, IARC dealt VERY professionally with this: When they noticed the problem, they informed us right away, got the surrogate a new insurance within days and reimbursed us for any damages.
Approved
(2014, International parents) So happy we choose this agency! Would recommend to everyone!
Approved
(2014, USA parents) The staff and legal team at IARC are exceptional. The initial information provided accurately reflects the cost, timeline and process. We highly recommend IARC.
Approved
Stats
No Statistics Available
Surrogacy Advisor Logo
GPAP I
GPAP II
MBP

Surrogacy Agency Satisfaction

10
Overall Score 24 Reviews

Law Firm Satisfaction

N/A
Recommendation Rate 0 Reviews
Surrogacy Experience
Overall Rating
10.0
Responsive and supportive throughout the journey
10.0
Surrogate screening and matching
10.0
Gay friendly and knowledgeable
10.0
Accommodation of international parents
10.0

Agency Recommendation Rate
100%
Law Firm Experience
Insufficient number of reviews.
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