I have immersed myself in the surrogacy industry since I first learned of it as a possibility for Jaime and Mike through friends of ours who brought back their baby, Em, in Feb of 2012. I personally suffered through years of infertility, surgeries, repetitive miscarriages, various diagnoses and treatments prior to successfully having my own children, who are now 11 and 9. I was very public with my experience and have always wanted to find a way to help other people who are facing trouble creating their families. It's something that many take for granted, but end up having difficult barriers to entry. Surrogacy, let alone International surrogacy was not even something on our radar 15 years ago unless you happened to be a glam movie star. It seemed so unattainable for the rest of us.
I have learned much through this process, good and bad, and I am now working at a different level than only client managing for one certain clinic. I am working with a group who will be inspiring positive changes, best practices, and offering a central resource for information gathering and education for all of us who are at the point where surrogacy becomes the one true choice. I'm very excited about this opportunity as I feel it will help so many people, and will inspire honest practices and transparency within the industry as a whole. Surrogacy is such a "hot button" issue that in order to keep this a viable option open to everyone, we must be sure that everything is on the up and up. Negative press needs to be replaced with positive stories, people need to be able to talk freely and openly about the experiences they have encountered and there should be zero fear in facing and negative issues head on. Only in dealing with things in a straight forward manner can we be sure that issues are resolved and are not repeated. We're dealing with human lives, we want it to be a true win win for our surrogates, for our children, and for ourselves.
Today I met with RESOLVE.org, THE central educational and infertility policies group here in the US, with their emphasis based on providing support and resources to those diagnosed with infertility. It was a great meeting and I think I brought some new thoughts to the table, and I certainly walked away with some new concepts and ideas from them.
I plan to be involved as much as I can with the industry, both domestically and internationally. I am honored to have this opportunity, and we will be announcing plans soon for large scale educational forums and conventions. The group I'm working with has big ideas, which will be announced very soon. It's exciting, and I hope that it helps provide hope and safe surrogacy options to many, while keeping the industry itself properly regulated and transparent, something that we all need to think about as we see the industry change in India, and as more explore options in Thailand. I stand by my original thinking, which is SURROGACY WORKS, but I think it can work even better with open discussions within the industry, and with well informed intended parents. Everyone should be going home completely joyous about their new babies and without negative feelings about the process itself.
More meetings in DC this week, including getting to take Fred out for a night on the town prior to his departure for India to see his newborn twins. It's really "cool" how an industry can pull you in so deeply that you're ready to give your entire life to the process and to helping people throughout the entire journey. Everyone who has gone through this is a "Surrogacy Ambassador", it's not a title just to be given to one or two, rather to everyone who has experienced it, and I'm hopeful that we will all be able to talk freely about our individual experiences to make things even better for those who come after us.
Best wishes to all, I'm hoping that everyone is experiencing success.
Kim
I have learned much through this process, good and bad, and I am now working at a different level than only client managing for one certain clinic. I am working with a group who will be inspiring positive changes, best practices, and offering a central resource for information gathering and education for all of us who are at the point where surrogacy becomes the one true choice. I'm very excited about this opportunity as I feel it will help so many people, and will inspire honest practices and transparency within the industry as a whole. Surrogacy is such a "hot button" issue that in order to keep this a viable option open to everyone, we must be sure that everything is on the up and up. Negative press needs to be replaced with positive stories, people need to be able to talk freely and openly about the experiences they have encountered and there should be zero fear in facing and negative issues head on. Only in dealing with things in a straight forward manner can we be sure that issues are resolved and are not repeated. We're dealing with human lives, we want it to be a true win win for our surrogates, for our children, and for ourselves.
Today I met with RESOLVE.org, THE central educational and infertility policies group here in the US, with their emphasis based on providing support and resources to those diagnosed with infertility. It was a great meeting and I think I brought some new thoughts to the table, and I certainly walked away with some new concepts and ideas from them.
I plan to be involved as much as I can with the industry, both domestically and internationally. I am honored to have this opportunity, and we will be announcing plans soon for large scale educational forums and conventions. The group I'm working with has big ideas, which will be announced very soon. It's exciting, and I hope that it helps provide hope and safe surrogacy options to many, while keeping the industry itself properly regulated and transparent, something that we all need to think about as we see the industry change in India, and as more explore options in Thailand. I stand by my original thinking, which is SURROGACY WORKS, but I think it can work even better with open discussions within the industry, and with well informed intended parents. Everyone should be going home completely joyous about their new babies and without negative feelings about the process itself.
More meetings in DC this week, including getting to take Fred out for a night on the town prior to his departure for India to see his newborn twins. It's really "cool" how an industry can pull you in so deeply that you're ready to give your entire life to the process and to helping people throughout the entire journey. Everyone who has gone through this is a "Surrogacy Ambassador", it's not a title just to be given to one or two, rather to everyone who has experienced it, and I'm hopeful that we will all be able to talk freely about our individual experiences to make things even better for those who come after us.
Best wishes to all, I'm hoping that everyone is experiencing success.
Kim
