What to Expect During Psychological Screening for Surrogacy

Choosing to offer your services as a gestational surrogate is a big decision. Through gestational surrogacy, you can make another family’s dreams of having children come true. Even though gestational surrogates are compensated for their time and effort, what surrogates do usually comes from their generosity and desire to help others. As such, it can be unsettling to realize that you are expected to undergo psychological screening before serving as a surrogate.

Why Must Surrogates Undergo Psychological Screening for Surrogacy?

Most prospective surrogates offer their services with genuine good intentions. It would be a disservice to allow a surrogate to proceed without being as certain as possible that she is prepared to endure the stresses involved in pregnancy and surrogacy. In other words, if you are offering this gift to another family, it is the responsibility of those overseeing the process that you will not be harmed by it. A surrogate is not just a womb for rent; you are a whole person who matters and whose well-being must be protected.

Obviously, surrogacy is a big commitment, especially once you become pregnant. Having completed a psychological screening for surrogacy will help you have peace of mind that you are ready for that commitment.

What is Involved in Surrogate Psychological Evaluations?

Surrogacy screening is a comprehensive process that, if carried out properly, protects everyone involved in the surrogacy: the surrogate, the intended parents, and the child or children born of the pregnancy. Different agencies have different screening protocols, but typically, you can expect something like the following.

Background Check

Most surrogates, and their spouse or partner if they have one, must submit to a background check. While the overwhelming majority of surrogates are offering their services for the right reasons, the compensation involved may attract some people with bad intentions. A history of criminal activity, especially for drug use or fraud, may raise questions about a prospective surrogate’s suitability.

That doesn’t mean that if you have made past mistakes, you are automatically disqualified as a surrogate. But because this process involves so much trust and vulnerability on all sides, it is critical to be transparent about your past.

Personality Assessment

The personality assessment is typically a multiple-choice test—the kind with bubbles to fill in. Some of the most commonly used are the Personality Assessment Interview (PAI) and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2). These tests can help to measure traits like anxiety, depression, warmth, and emotional stability, among others.

Personal Interview

In addition to a standardized personality test, you should also expect to have an interview with a psychologist. If you have a spouse or partner, they will be interviewed, too, since your surrogacy would affect their life as well. The interview may be in person or through videoconference.

You should expect some questions that feel challenging, even invasive. These questions are not intended to make you uncomfortable, but to understand your expectations and mindset. Questions may include things like:

• Why do you want to become a surrogate?
• Who is your primary support system? How do they feel about your decision to be a surrogate?
• How do you deal with stressful situations?
• What are your expectations for the surrogacy arrangement?
• Do you understand what is involved in a surrogacy agreement?
• Do you have any fears about pregnancy or giving birth?
• What physical or emotional struggles did you have during previous pregnancies, or after giving birth?

You may also be asked how you would feel if certain challenges arose during the pregnancy, such as the need for selective termination, or the determination that the fetus had a genetic anomaly.

Report

Within a few weeks after your psychological screening for surrogacy is completed, you will receive a report of the outcome. Your primary concern at first may be whether the report gives a “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” for you to proceed with surrogacy. However, the results are typically more nuanced than that; it’s a broader picture of your emotional and mental well-being, which is useful whether or not you move ahead with surrogacy.

If the report suggests that there are reasons not to pursue surrogacy right now, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you will never be able to be a surrogate—just that there may be issues to work on first. It’s far better to identify those issues before you become a surrogate than after you are pregnant. Your surrogacy agency can help you find the resources that you need to address and resolve concerns about surrogacy and mental health.

Do Intended Parents Have to Go Through Psychological Screening for Surrogacy?

Many surrogacy agencies do require it and almost all strongly recommend it. The intended parent or parents may not be physically pregnant, but they will be experiencing the surrogacy process, which means trusting someone else with what is most precious to them: their dream of having a child, and the child itself.

In short, gestational surrogacy doesn’t just affect the mental and emotional health of the surrogate; it has a profound impact on intended parents, too. If you are considering pursuing parenthood through surrogacy, you owe it to yourself, your future gestational carrier, and your future child to ensure that you are as prepared as possible. If you think about it, why wouldn’t you want to make sure that you are mentally and emotionally ready for the journey to parenthood?

The truth is that all prospective parents benefit from being in a good mental and emotional space for the adventure ahead—not just those going through surrogacy.

If you are an intended parent or a prospective surrogate who wants to learn more about surrogacy and mental health, or what to expect during psychological screening for surrogacy, contact Brinkley Law Firm LLC to schedule a consultation with a surrogacy attorney.