Feeling really proud right now.
Today, just over 12 months since we started planning for what has become known as SASS (Surrogacy Australia’s Support Service), I reached a milestone.
After the June conference in 2018, and another proud moment after delivering a talk with Sarah Jefford, with fire in my belly, I announced to Sam Everingham that I wanted to collaborate with him and the Surrogacy Australia team to make some positive changes to how Intended Parents and surrogates connect in Australia. I had been a full time high school maths teacher up to that point and made a leap of faith to step back a day a week to have time to invest into developing the SASS model. I was blessed to step into a one day a week paid position with Surrogacy Australia – what is possibly a first within our community, that a community member has drawn a wage from Australian surrogacy funds.
With a team including Sam, Karen M, Sarah J, Felicity K, Katrina Hale, the volunteer Surrogacy Australian committee, GPs and OBGYNs who are also surrogates, community members, IVF clinics, being guided by what agencies do overseas to how we could adapt to an altruistic model, and with the guidance of members of Surrogacy UK who have an established altruistic model, SASS started to take shape.
In January 2019, after months of preparing google forms with the help of my husband on the coding and scripting, a video to promote the service, mountains of emails, we launched the service and accepted enrolments from surrogates and IPs from across Australia. This is the first time that IPs have had to pay for a service like this in Australia, so we were taking a risk as to whether or not people would pay. They did.
I have begun to coordinate Mentor IPs and Surrogates from across the country, with the aim of having a hetero IM/IF, a gay IF, and a surrogate in every state that have engaged with surrogacy with strangers. The next six months I’d like to expand that to have a set of Mentors who have engaged with friends/family who were previously known to them, as the issues that these two types of teams face can sometimes be different.
The Mentors are paid for these sessions. That in itself is a first for Australia as far as I’m aware. Our wonderful Mentors have previously given so much time, effort, energy and love to this community and had previously been meeting up with new comers to help guide them. It is nice to be able to compensate them a little. Thank you to you all, Hayley, Charmaine, Simone, Amanda, Marnie B, Marian, Lisa and Henry, Mike and Glenn, Mahesh and Phil, Juan and Christian, Kristy, Ben and Terry.
We have also had 3 teams self match up to this point, with a few more in the pipeline. This means that the IPs and the surrogate joined SASS independently, and through meeting at local catch ups, or striking up a friendship through this facebook group or the Fertility Connections forum, they have started chatting or as we like to call it – surro dating.
In terms of numbers, I’ve had nearly 40 IPs complete the initial application form with about 20 of those ‘in the pool’ ready for a surrogate to select their profile. That means 20 Mentor sessions have happened across the country, isn’t that alone amazing? So many new IPs are making friends with experienced IPs and we’re continuing to grow this community. Funnily enough, no IPs from WA, ACT or TAS yet and hardly any from SA. If you’re a potential IP and have read this length post this far, you might consider joining SASS or find out more here:
https://www.surrogacyaustralia.org/register/
For surrogates, I’ve had about 20 complete the initial application form, with 7 getting close to being ready to receive profiles from IPs, and 1 who has.
All of those things alone I am proud of helping to facilitate. But there is something about today’s event that is particularly significant.
Today I got to ‘make the call’.
Today I called an IP couple to let them know that a surrogate had chosen their profile. The excitement, shock and wonder was audible. I think we were all smiling from ear to ear. I felt such joy and pride in being able to facilitate this introduction.
I hope to be able to make many more calls like that.
Surrogacy is a long road, a marathon not a sprint after all. Once this potential team have their first meet, they may decide that they’re not a potential team. And that is totally ok. It’s not just about finding ‘a’ surrogate, or finding ‘a’ set of IPs, it’s about finding the right match for you and your family. We owe it to the children born via surrogacy to try and get this right as this is their story.
Today, just over 12 months since we started planning for what has become known as SASS, I achieved a goal I had been aiming for. To facilitate an introduction between a surrogate and an IP couple, where they might be a good match on paper, and to allow them to now build a friendship in person and to see where that goes.
I feel proud of myself and this community.
Proud to be in this privileged position to take the torch, to play my small part for the next phase of surrogacy in Australia. I am forever grateful to the trail blazers who have gone before me who would have been in my position if the stars had aligned differently.
I am humbled, grateful, proud of my work and proud to be a part of this surrogacy community in Australia.
Surrogacy Safari 