Pretty flexible program criteria:
·
Married couples or singles may apply (much
smaller pool for singles)
·
Undergo and pass a home study
·
If adoptive mother is older than 45, a doctor’s
“permission note,” for lack of a better term, must be provided
Program entails:
·
Mutual matching services (more on that later)
·
Embryo adoption services patterned off of their
infant adoption program, as relevant
·
Mandatory post-birth record keeping (adoptive
family sends updates to agency)
·
Mediation services between both genetic and
adoptive parties (optional post birth)
·
Average of one to four month wait for matching. The more open one’s preferences, the faster
the match.
Fee Schedule:
·
In short, the Snowflakes fee is $8000. This fee covers matching, counseling,
communication mediation, and records keeping.
·
The fee does not cover the required home study,
the embryo transfer, or the necessary medications.
·
There is an additional $2000 fee if you need to
be rematched (in the event the first set of embryos and subsequent transfer(s) did not result in live birth).
·
You do not owe Snowflakes anything if there are
embryos remaining from your match after a successful pregnancy. All embryos in a set are considered yours and
you may transfer them at a convenient time.
You do need to notify Snowflakes of the outcome of subsequent transfers
though.
Matching Facts:
·
They have a limited amount of multi-ethnic
embryos (there is limited availability of these nationwide – Snowflakes seems
to be about average)
·
Mutual matching – the majority of Snowflakes’
matches are considered “mutual matching”.
The Snowflakes’ staff presents genetic parents with a potential adoptive
family’s profile. Snowflakes has already
screened both parties ensuring all basic preferences are met. Genetic parents (GP) say yes or no to
match. If yes, the adoptive family will
be sent the GP’s profile for review. If
no, the Snowflakes’ staff chose another set of GP to consider the adoptive
family’s profile. The match is only complete when both parties are in agreement
and the contracts are signed.
·
The vast majority of adoptions are open,
semi-open, or closed. Genetic parents
participate in the matching in these scenarios.
·
A very limited number of donated embryo sets are
considered “anonymous”. In this
scenario, the GP’s waive all involvement.
·
Adoptive parents receive the following in a
genetic parents’ profile:
o
Basic info on embryos – number, developmental
stage, date frozen
o
Biography of donating parents
o
Pictures of donating parents and their children,
if applicable
o
Three generations of medical history
o
All the embryos in the set
Additional Facts:
·
Most genetic parents prefer an open
contract. This could range from minimal
involvement (the GP’s just want active participation in the matching process
and notification of any resulting pregnancies) to full openness (GP’s
correspond regularly with adoptive family through facebook or email or
phone).
·
Snowflakes offers anonymous, closed, semi-open, and open
adoptions.
·
The Snowflakes Program will provide post-birth
mediation, as desired, between the GP’s and adoptive parents. For example, any written correspondence that takes
place between my twins’ genetic parents and me is sent through the agency.
·
Post birth records are required to be sent to
Snowflakes through the resulting child(ren)’s fifth birthday. Records are to be sent at 3 months, 6 months,
9 months, 12 months, two years, three years, four years, and at five
years. These records are for Snowflakes,
not the genetic parents.
·
No selective reduction is allowed.
·
Surrogates are allowed.
·
While there are no limits to the amount of times
you can try to achieve live birth, Snowflakes does encourage you to visit with
your doctor if you have not achieved a successful pregnancy after three FET’s.
·
Adoptive parents are strongly advised to
transfer no more embryos than one is willing to carry.
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