Why should I choose Creative Family Connections™?

You are about to make critical life choices that will forever affect you and your family. At Creative Family Connections, we meet your high standards and help you expedite the process. We take your decisions as seriously as you do -- from keeping pace with the ever-changing medical technology, to meeting the challenges of the legal environment, to sorting out all the emotional issues that inevitably arise. By choosing Creative Family Connections, you are gaining facilitators and advocates -- both professional and legal -- with the experience to lead and guide you so that together we can find a solution that best fits your situation.

How will you make the right connections for me?

At Creative Family Connections, we use our unique multi-step process to recruit and screen our donor and surrogate candidates. If you are using our customized approach for a donor candidate , we specifically conduct a search for you to find an individual with the criteria you seek. After we sit down with you and learn your desires, we advertise and then personally screen potential candidates intensively, first by phone and e-mail, then through our own questionnaire, then through in-depth, in-person interviews. If you choose to select a donor from our book of candidates (whom we have already interviewed during a previous search), your cost will be lower, but the same screening process on our part is applied. And if a surrogate candidate is involved, we actually travel to her home and interview her there, when her husband (if she has one) and other members of her household are present.

For donor candiates, we always obtain certified college transcripts -- and we will also get SAT scores if you want them. For surrogate candidates, we always interview 3-4 references. We confirm pertinent background information, including obtaining a completed medical questionnaire from your surrogate candidate's OB/GYN. And we order a criminal background check of your first choice surrogate or donor candidate. We also coordinate with your medical team to obtain a full medical screening and psychological testing for you, your donor candidate and your surrogate candidate. In fact, we facilitate the process by scheduling the appointments for your donor and/or surrogate candidate and accompanying her to her appointments. These are just a few of the many steps we undertake to find your donor and/or surrogate.

What happens after I select my donor and/or surrogate?

The services we offer do not stop once you select your donor or surrogate. We then offer our comprehensive support service, which we tailor to meet your and your clinic's desired level of anonymity, privacy, and involvement with your donor and/or surrogate. This service allows you and your donor/surrogate to stay on track and on time, to synchronize cycles, to maintain appropriate relationships with each other and your medical team, and to deal with personal and professional concerns and questions as they arise. Our goal in providing this 24/7 service is not just to provide convenience and peace of mind. Our goal is to maximize the chances that your donor and surrogate will keep their appointments and meet other responsibilities throughout the testing, egg retrieval, and transfer procedures. Our goal is to ensure that the entrie process goes as smoothly as possible.

More specifically, our goal is to make sure that everyone finishes the cycle -- right through to the egg retrieval and transfer procedure -- and does so without improper or missed medication doses or appointments. For some donors, this requires us to telephone them every day, after calling the clinic to find out what the new dosage is. For other donors, we need to check in with them and give them "pep talks" -- especially those whose moods are affected by the fertility medications. Many donors do not have their own transportation, so we make sure they have a way to get to the clinics, which are often not on a metro stop. Often, we drive them ourselves -- For example, we accompany all donors to their initial medical consultation and to the appointment when they learn how to give themself their injections. We actually sit in with them on those visits. We also make sure they have transportation to and from the Egg Retrieval (when they are not allowed to drive after anesthesia ).

In a nutshell, your end goal is our end goal: the birth of a baby.

Can I meet the donor?

Absolutely. As a small firm, we offer you the flexibility to do what feels most comfortable to you. One of the most popular options is for our prospective parents to meet the most promising egg donor candidate in a short (e.g., 1 hour) meeting on a first-name-only basis only. We arrange and attend this meeting with you, iin a casual atmosphere, e.g., a coffee shop. Some clients choose not to meet the donor at all. It is your choice.

Why do I need/want lawyers to help me?

At Creative Family Connections, we do not just seek clients, we pursue happy endings -- babies! More specifically, babies about whom there are no legal battles. That is one reason why we are attorneys, working to make certain that all the i's are dotted and t's crossed. You will not necessarily notice this fact. We do not wear pin-stripe suits or speak "legalese." But every step of the way, we will make sure that you are in compliance with all laws and that all your legal rights are protected. We will draft and negotiate legal agreements for you -- some of the most important agreements you will enter into in your life. Think about it: What could be more important than protecting your rights to your unborn child? And we want quiet happy endings....not TV news stories.

Can I retain you just for your legal services if I already have my own donor or surrogate?

Absolutely! We not only do customized searches, we customize our own services. We are attorneys, remember. Therefore, we can definitely provide the legal representation if you come to us with your own surrogate or donor. In fact, we are happy to do so. Some of the most wonderful surrogates, for example, are friends or relatives who step forward and offer their services. We will work something out with you. You will find that we are very flexible.

I have heard that Creative Family Connections is gay-friendly. Can you confirm this?

Yes! In fact, Creative Family Connections' first client was a gay prospective father. Founder Diane Hinson thought it particularly fitting that the company's first client was building a non-traditional family. She wanted the company's founding principle -- that everyone can build a family, regardless of race, gender, or sexual orientation -- to be a dynamic, working principle, not a bunch of feel-good empty words.

Since then, many more prospective gay parents have become satisfied clients. Read some of the testimonials. Ask us for some references. As our first client attests:

Creative Family Connections gives real meaning to the terms "gay-friendly" and "client-friendly." Diane and her team supported and encouraged my partner and me, and helped us make smart, informed decisions at every step of this journey. The CFC team has made the incredibly complex issues surrounding surrogacy manageable and straightforward.

Moreover, we are gay-friendly attorneys who are your advocates. We will help you analyze and keep abreast of the rapidly developing laws in this area. We will do our best to move the law in your direction -- strategically, in a way that avoids backlash legislation. (Read about our Maryland court victory on our Mission page!) We will help you make the complicated decisions that will arise throughout the process. We will work with your IVF Clinic to sensitize them to any special interests that you have as a gay prospective parent. We will protect your legal rights and relationships by preparing and negotiating a comprehensive set of legal agreements with your surrogate and your donor. And we will file in court whatever papers are necessary to ensure that your legal and parental rights are maximized to the fullest extent possible under the law.

I’d like to hear what some others who have worked with you have to say. Is that possible?

By all means! Click here and you will be taken there directly. We are also happy to provided references to you so that you can talk on the phone to current and past clients.

I’d like more information. What is the next step?

We welcome the opportunity to discuss with you, in confidence, the possibilities that can lead to a wonderful experience. In addition to being available by e-mail and phone, we offer a preliminary 1.5-hour consultation session that is complimentary to help you determine the best next steps for you. Our offices are conveniently located in the metropolitan DC area, on the metro, in the surrogacy-friendly jurisdiction of Maryland.