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News & Current Events |
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READ ALL ABOUT CREATIVE FAMILY CONNECTIONS™ IN A 3-PART SERIES BY PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING REPORTER KEVIN SACK, OCTOBER 29-32, 2006, IN THE LA TIMES (Click Here to Read Articles)
READ MOREABOUT CREATIVE FAMILY CONNECTIONS™ IN A JANUARY 17, 2005 ARTICLE IN THE WASHINGTON POST (Click Here to Read Article)
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BABIES
& A COURT VICTORY!!
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On October 20, 2004, twin babies Logan and Chance were born at 6.5 and 7 lbs, respectively. They are the children of two of Creative Family Connections' gay parents, Tracy and Michael. It didn't quite take a village, but it took one of the Dad's sperm; the other Dad's sister's eggs; a wonderful surrogate named Lori who Creative Family Connections located for Tracy and Michael; and the doctors and embryologist at the Genetics & IVF Institute to create these wondrous beings. The amazing surrogate Lori, who has her own 5-year-old triplets, carried the babies all the way to full-term, delivering them on their scheduled due date in Annapolis, Maryland. Significantly, Tracy and Michael had both already been declared the sole legal parents, by Order of the Circuit Court for Baltimore City in Maryland on October 6th, 2004. Creative Family Connections filed a Petition for Declaration of Parentage with that court, after also filing a Motion to Waive Venue. It is our understanding that this is the first time such a pre-birth order was granted to two gay parents in Maryland! As a result of the order, Tracy and Michael reported that everything went as smoothly as they could imagine at the hospital. They were given a room two doors down from the surrogate, and the babies stayed with them. They had full decision-making authority. The babies were discharged to them. The birth certificates have their names and not the surrogate's: Tracy and Michael are listed as "parent" and "parent." The Court's order states that Tracy and Michael have all legal rights that any biological parents would have. |
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Discharge day.
Logan and Chance just 2 days old with Michael and Tracy. |
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MORE BABIES!!
a mini baby boom! |
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OTHER NEWS . . .
**Diane Hinson was quoted in two of a series of articles on Surrogacy published by
The Salt Lake Tribune:
"For thoseWanting Kids, Legal Risks Never too High" (Click Here to Read Article)
"Parenthood by Proxy" (Click Here to Read Article)
**Creative Family Connections was profiled in Focus Magazine, October 2005 (a German newsmagzine similar to Newsweek).
**One of Creative Family Connections' surrogates was profiled in an interview in Families Magazine in February 2006. (Click Here to Read Article)
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THE
MUASHER CENTER FOR FERTILITY & IVF
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| When Dr. Muasher took over the Jones Institute's Northern Virginia facility in early 2004, he kept all the expertise, staff and excellent statistics....but he also opened the clinic's doors to gay patients who had previously not been welcomed. CFC clients were the first to enter. Among those clients are those doing dual embryos. www.mcfivf.com. |
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FAMILY
PRIDE COALITION
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| Diane was a co-leader of a workshop on Surrogacy at a one-day conference on Parenting for LGBT families that was co-sponsored by the Family Pride Coalition and Rainbow Families DC, April 30, 2005. http://www.familypride.org/events/dcconference.php |
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EQUALITY
VIRGINIA
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Diane wrote the Surrogacy and Egg Donor sections for the new parenting portions of the Equality Virginia website. It provides a guide to gay and lesbian intended parents living in Virginia who want to start a family on how to navigate the laws in Virginia. www.equalityvirginia.org. |
| RESOLVE CONFERENCES |
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Road to Resolution: Adoption and Infertility Conference and Consumer Fair April 2, 2005, Bethesda, MD November 4, 2006, Bethesda, MD Creative Family Connections' team was there! May 15th, 2004, Annandale, VA Creative Family Connections was an exhibitor and Diane Hinson was a speaker. Diane spoke about the legal issues that arise when using an egg donor and how the intended parents can have a legal agreement with their egg donor (signed with their first names only!) to protect their legal and parental rights. She talked about a new case that was just handed down, in which the court enforced such a contract. She also talked about why many of CFC's clients choose to meet their donor on a first-name-only basis. It was standing-room-only at the Egg Donor panel on which she spoke! There were several hundred people in attendance at the conference, and many stopped by Creative Family Connections' table, where Diane and partner Linda ReVeal spoke with them throughout the day. Click below for a link to Resolve DC's website:
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NORTHWEST CENTER for REPRODUCTIVE SCIENCES
Creative Family Connections is excited to work with this reproductive center in Seattle, WA, with its state-of-the-art embryology lab and first-rate doctors, some of whom CFC worked with at GIVF. CFC will be assisting the clinic by finding gestational carriers for its intended parents who need gestational carriers (Washington State is not a surrogacy-friendly state). www.nwreprosci.com
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GENETICS & IVF INSTITUTE
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Diane Hinson, her law partner Linda ReVeal and Case Manager Amy ReVeal have met with the doctors and staff at GIVF on a number of occasions -- at their monthly staff meetings and at other special meetings -- to discuss the laws pertaining to Surrogacy and Egg Donors, as well as the FDA regulations. www.givf.com. CFC has a number of clients working with GIVF. |
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VIRGINIA CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE MEDICINE |
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Creative Family Connections has been pleased to learn of another doctor in the metropolitan DC area who works with gay clients, as well as other clients pursuing egg donor and surrogacy pregnancies. CFC currently has a number of clients working with Dr. Fady Sharara in surrogacy situations. He is particularly sensitive to clients who want to minimize the likelihood of mulitiples, even to the point of only putting in one blastocyst. www.vcrmed.com.
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