Roger Hunt would have hated these ladies, so let’s give a big welcome to Dakota Surrogacy, a Sioux Falls company “dedicated to helping singles, infertile couples and the LGBT community receive this precious gift” of parenthood.
Traci Boyle of Harrisburg and Sioux City attorney Emilee Boyle Gehling filed the paperwork with the Secretary of State to create Dakota Surrogacy last week. Boyle Gehling was also named Mrs. Iowa International last week; In her pageant profile, she indicates she’s a good Christian, so helping men and women in any marital condition must be part of God’s calling. Hear hear!
Dakota Surrogacy helps fill the gap created by our show-Christian Legislature’s permission to adoption agencies to discriminate against willing parents’ failure to be Christian enough.
Do you work with gay partners?
We proudly help all loving couples build loving families and are happy to work with gay, lesbian, and transgender couples, partners, and individuals.Do you work with single or unmarried individuals?
Yes, we are happy to work with an individual regardless of their relationship status [Dakota Surrogacy, “Intended Parents FAQs,” downloaded 2018.12.25].
But take-out is much more expensive than homemade:
GESTATIONAL CARRIER FEES
Gestational Carrier fees are held in an escrow account and include:
Baseline compensation for a 1st time surrogate: paid in equal monthly installments after ultrasound confirmation of pregnancy $30,000 Baseline compensation for an experienced surrogate: paid in equal monthly installments after ultrasound confirmation of pregnancy $35,000 Embryo transfer $500 Monthly stipend for miscellaneous expenses: $200/month, estimated 15 months $3,000 Maternity clothing allowance (singleton / multiples) $500/$750 Gestational Carrier Fee Total: $34,000 – $46,250 estimated GESTATIONAL CARRIER AND INTENDED PARENT NON-MEDICAL SCREENING FEES
In depth screening of Gestational Carrier and Partner (if applicable): criminal background check(s), psychological evaluation, home visit, pre-match expenses, GC travel, GC insurance, coordination of match meeting(s) and professional independent review of the Gestational Carrier’s health insurance policy. Also includes criminal background check(s) of Intended Parents. Fee is payable to Dakota Surrogacy and is due upon execution of our Agency Agreement. Non-Medical Screening Fees Total: $3,000 estimated TRUST ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT FEES
All fees not payable directly to Dakota Surrogacy are held in escrow by a licensed and independent escrow agent. The escrow agent charges a flat fee of $700 plus $10 per check issued from the account. Escrow agent processes all payments and reimbursements to your Gestational Carrier and will provide you with a monthly account statement. Escrow / Trust Account Management Fee: $1,000 estimated PREGNANCY AND DELIVERY EXPENSES
Intended Parents are responsible for all pregnancy, prenatal and delivery related medical fees not covered by insurance. Amount will vary depending on the insurance policy and medical circumstances. An average is listed below. Pregnancy and Delivery Uncovered Expenses: $5,000 estimated LEGAL FEES
Our in house attorney generally drafts all surrogate contracts for our program. Intended Parents are responsible for their attorney fees, as well as those of the Gestational Carrier. Intended Parents Legal Counsel (For contract review & negotiation contract, parentage proceedings, etc.) $3,000 – $7,000 Gestational Carrier Legal Counsel (For contract review & negotiation contract, parentage proceedings, etc.) $3,000 – $7,000 Legal Fees Total: $4,000 – $10,000 estimated DAKOTA SURROGACY AGENCY FEE
Although we work hard to keep our fee low, our comprehensive services still include everything you’ll need for a successful surrogacy journey, including: locating and fully screening outstanding Gestational Carriers, facilitating match meetings, home visits, coordinating with legal counsel, clinics and other industry professionals, postpartum support for Carriers and Parents, and support of you and your Gestational Carrier every step of the way. First Installment, due upon execution of Agency Agreement $10,000 Second Installment, due upon execution of Surrogacy Contract $10,000 Dakota Surrogacy Agency Fee Total: $20,000 [Dakota Surrogacy, “Estimated Surrogacy Expenses,” downloaded 2018.12.25]
Dakota Surrogacy also lists variable expenses for medical complications, lost wages, and other maternity issues. Parenthood in general is not for the timid, but obtaining a child via surrogacy is not for the poor.
But on the supply side, if you have a womb for rent, Dakota Surrogacy gives you a pretty good deal. Base pay is $30K for first-time surrogates and $35K for experienced surrogates. Surrogates get $200 a month for expenses during and after pregnancy (about 15 months total). Conceiving twins is a bonus: each additional fetus is worth $5,000. But don’t come to Dakota Surrogacy just looking for a paycheck:
We seek out surrogates who are interested in more than just a financial gain. Oftentimes these women see surrogacy as a way to help a family in need. These are strong, caring, and reliable women! All of our surrogates and their spouses/partners must pass a criminal background check before we even consider them for surrogacy. Someone from our agency will also interview them and their partner/spouse to ensure that the surrogate has a stable and healthy home life. Our surrogates are also all mothers who have a proven ability to carry a healthy pregnancy to term [Dakota Surrogacy, “Intended Parents FAQs,” downloaded 2018.12.25].
If surrogacy is out of your price range, South Dakota’s Department of Social Services directs you to AdoptUSKids.org, which lists 33 South Dakota kids among over 4,000 profiles who could use a permanent family this Christmas morning.
Any word of bill from Stace nelson that appoints him as personal inspector for every surrogate to ensure they don’t sneak out the back alley for an abortion?
Are Muslims allowed to be surrogates in Northern Mississippi?
Curious iowan would like to know.
Just like an iowan to bring new ideas and businesses to your state. Thank TFSM for yer next door neighbor to the SE.
“our show-Christian Legislature’s permission to adoption agencies to discriminate against willing parents’ failure to be Christian enough.”
I wonder which agencies do that? I don’t think Lutheran Social Services does. Catholic SS does adoptions and they probably discriminate against LBTG folks, maybe unmarrieds too.
I can’t imagine being a surrogate but women who do say it’s incredibly fulfilling. Certainly there are some who only do it for the $. Ugh.
So basically, for the wealthy.
Cory writes:
She says she heard a message about trusting God “years ago” and tries to say a little prayer when she starts to worry. I’m not saying she isn’t a Christian, but I’m not seeing anything specific to Christianity in that profile.
What would you have needed to see “specific to Christianity”?
Anything that distinguishes Christianity from the dozens of other religions that acknowledge God and prayer (a reference to Christ or the Bible for example) would have worked.
Stace should write up some laws requiring rich folks who pay $100k for this service to watch a video of sad adoptable orphan kids before signing on the dotted line.
I don’t see anything about health insurance costs. If you are not in open enrollment, you cannot purchase health insurance. Also, what contingency plans do they have for a premature birth? Or complications that would require us taxpayers to subsidize this private enterprise with payments and medical treatments for life.
In some of these cases, foreign nationals pay for these services so the child or children are born American and then they go off to their new parents homeland. Will they get to vote if they are not republican?
Kurt, from her public statements, she’s at least as good a Christian as evangelicals believe Donald Trump to be. Plus, I get the impression that Gehling uses words sincerely.
MJK, I’m afraid so. Only financially secure folks can afford this service. Same for a full-time nanny, or boarding school.
But I wonder: if family life really is sacred to the pro-lifers, couldn’t they make an argument that the state should subsidize surrogacy for low-income infertile couples? Imagine a state Handmaid’s Corps—all volunteer, no draft, please—in which the state pays healthy young women to bear children for infertile couples who can’t afford regular surrogacy services.
Actually, Stace Nelson might like this: instead of the stick, let’s try the carrot to stop abortion. Offer every woman who is considering ending her pregnancy $40,000, plus free health insurance and lost wages, to carry the child to term and place it for adoption to infertile couples.
How many children are already out there awaiting adoption? Why not promote getting them into a home with money instead of creating more kids who won’t have a home? I’m just askin…
Cory’s solution, while novel, doesn’t address the two main issues. Pro-lifers are all about telling others what to do in a reverential way. Surrogacy is about passing ones DNA to a baby.
Mr. Lansing, there is another problem with Mr. H’s idea: All the people who just get pregnant over and over wanting the government to take care of them would have another $40,000 reasons to just get knocked up and plus they’d get free health insurance. Lost wages probably wouldn’t be much of a problem, since most of those women probably don’t work.
Mr. Woman Hater grudz … You mean (all the WOMEN) who just get knocked up over and over, wanting free money from your fat wallet? There aren’t any, GoatLicker.
Biting on such an obvious goat-bait post, Mr. Lansing, shows you have gotten fatter and more sloppy over the holidays, as I suspected. I figured a weaker-minded person, perhaps Ms. Geelsdottir, would have bitten on that. 🐐
You responded to my taunt, weak goat boy. Go away and lick your wounds.
Debbo, I think a couple of sessions ago, several states, SD among them, adopted a rule that allowed religious adoption agencies to refuse service to LGBT couples. In other words, the rule doesn’t require discrimination, but they allow the agencies to decide for themselves if they will serve or refuse LGBT persons on religious grounds. Personally, that doesn’t make me feel any better when they refuse same-sex-couples, Discrimination comes from the same immoral place, whether it’s religious or just doltish.
Having been raised a mainstream Protestant, then 20 years a Catholic, then leaving that behind, I see Pope Francis from many sides. I am encouraged by what he says about the poor and the disadvantaged and the hated for whatever reason. But I have to see something better for children and better for women and better for the dispossessed out of him other than just talk before I’ll be excited about him as as religious leader. Sorry, but he leaves a lot to be desired.
Being a grandmother of an IVF child and hearing him call that a “sin” on the same level as abortion, put a pain in the pit of my stomach that will not go away.
I agree Robin. Discrimination is immoral.
Thanks for the shout out, Dakota Free Press. We at Dakota Surrogacy are thrilled to bring this service to South Dakota. I have personally worked with countless parents and surrogates, and I have found it rare that compensation is the driving force. The women I work with have felt a calling to carry for another family.
I’ve also worked with parents whose hearts have been broken after failed adoptions or years of home studies and waiting to be ‘picked’ and have turned to surrogacy as a way to achieve their dream for their family. Both ways to parenthood are valid, and choosing one doesn’t mean another has any less value.
The surrogacy process is expensive. Fertility treatments and adoptions can be too. But our team has been blessed to work with parents-to-be who are willing to move mountains to become parents. For many parents, financing the process is a hurdle, and we want them to go in with eyes wide open so they can be fully prepared for the expense. That is why we chose to post ranges online from the start. No hiding the ball and dashing another dream.
Thanks again! If you have any more specific questions please give us a call or email us.