The best and worst of surrogacy.

LiSTNR has published a podcast as part of the Secrets We Keep series, called By Any Means. The podcast explores issues of infertility, online sperm donation groups, and surrogacy – including altruistic surrogacy in Australia, and international commercial surrogacy.

The Surrogacy Sisterhood welcomed investigative journalist, Claudianna Blanco, at our surrogate’s retreat in September 2024. Claudianna spent time with the surrogates during the retreat, finding out about how altruistic surrogacy works in Australia and listening to the experiences of the surrogates – including the amazing and challenging aspects. Episode 5 of the podcast series focuses on the Sisterhood and surrogacy in Australia. I am very proud that our Sisterhood Retreats and care packages have been going strong since their inception in 2018.

Claudianna was also interested in the alternative options of international surrogacy, particularly in Latin America. For that, she travelled to Colombia to investigate commercial surrogacy and interviewed Australian intended parents, Colombian surrogates, and Sam Everingham of Growing Families. Her interviews with Sam discussed Growing Families’ involvement in promoting international surrogacy providers to Australian intended parents, despite the lack of regulation in many of the countries promoted as surrogacy destinations. During episode 6, Claudianna reveals that “between 2020 and 2022, while Growing Families was still registered as a not-for-profit, it received more than $1.3 million in sponsorship.” Growing Families is no longer a registered charity in Australia.

Despite services sponsoring Growing Families and attending events in Australia to promote themselves to Australian intended parents, there are no guarantees that any of them are ethical or adhere to any standards. We have seen instances of poor regulation, lack of ethics and allegations of human trafficking with service providers promoted by Growing Families, including in Crete, in Argentina and now in Colombia. When I have spoken publicly about these issues, I have been threatened with litigation – but to keep quiet is to risk intended parents being exploited.

Claudianna posed a question to Sam: “Overseas providers pay Growing Families a fee to present at your events, like at webinars, seminars and conferences and you recommend those same providers to your clients. How can you state that you’re providing advice as an independent third party when you’re effectively receiving a fee?”

Sam answered – “We don’t refer clients only to those providers who are presenting at our events.” As Claudianna points out, the Growing Families website offers guidance to countries like Ghana, Uganda, Georgia, Mexico and Colombia.

You can read my concerns about conflicts of interest in the surrogacy industry, which are not unique to Growing Families. I have raised issues of conflict of interest with Sam and Surrogacy Australia in the past.

Intended parents engaging in international surrogacy should obtain independent legal advice and seek migration advice from a registered migration agent. Growing Families is not an authorised migration service.

The Australian government announced a review of Australia’s surrogacy laws which will happen in 2025-2026. The review will need to address the issue of the lack of regulation of surrogacy service providers in Australia and how to educate intended parents about the pitfalls of international surrogacy.

My recent Churchill Fellowship explored best practice surrogacy, and ways to improve accessibility of surrogacy in Australia, so that intended parents feel less compelled to travel overseas. In my view, a well-regulated national surrogacy framework is in the best interests of everyone involved, including the children born. Qualities of a good surrogacy arrangement include ensuring everyone can give informed consent, obtains independent legal advice and is assessed and supported by a qualified counsellor.

Service providers, including matching services, need to be regulated to ensure they adhere to ethical professional standards.

To increase the options for surrogacy in Australia, surrogates should be appropriately compensated.

If you are an intended parent engaging with surrogacy services, my advice is to be discerning about why a service is being recommended to you, and what might be in it for the person making that referral.

I recommend listening to the full By Any Means series, to make up your own mind.