FAIRFIELD — BirthRoad Surrogacy Specialists, LLC (www.assistedreproductionlaw.com), of Fairfield, launched in early 2009, has started an aggressive, national awareness campaign for Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender (GLBT) Communities to assist hopeful parents with surrogacy options and opportunities.

“We know that there are so many couples and individuals who will not be able to have a family without this option and at BirthRoad we are skilled and knowledgeable in guiding, matching and working closely with our clients from the initial meetings with their surrogate until the family leaves the hospital or birthing center with their baby,” said CEO Linda S. Buck, of Fairfield.

“We believe we can help all of our clients. Unlike N.Y., for example, where surrogacy is not recognized, Connecticut is a surrogacy-friendly state with a favorable court system and we hope it will get even better with regard to protection and legal rights for parents using gestational carriers (surrogate mothers).”

Buck’s business partner, Victoria Ferrara, Esq., principal of the Law Firm of Victoria T. Ferrara, PC, of Fairfield, brings more than 20 years of experience in assisted reproductive law and a great deal of sensitivity to the personal and financial challenges of the surrogacy process, keeping the hopes and goals of intended parents in mind.

“Our work with these wonderful people is guided by grace, love and dignity,” Ferrara said. “And we have so much more work to do. BirthRoad’s goal is to reach places across the country where we know that family matters, and because we understand and already service the GLBT community, we provide a broad range of surrogacy-related legal services, including pre-birth orders and co-parent adoptions by same sex parents from here in the U.S. and abroad.”
The BirthRoad team will be contacting Gay/Lesbian centers, churches and synagogues over the next few months in this initial effort to arrange get togethers with groups of any size, Buck added. The goal is to set up small group meetings so people experience a comfort level and can ask questions and share information.

Using surrogacy to bring a child or, in 50 percent of cases, a set of twins to excited and deserving parents may be easier than anticipated once BirthRoad makes a sound match with a gestational carrier, but it is often very costly. The total can exceed $100,000, depending on a variety of factors, Buck pointed out.

“While it may be hard to believe that anyone would spend that kind of money, time and energy pursuing a pregnancy, at BirthRoad we meet parents everyday who are simply unwilling to give up on their desire to have a family, according to Buck. “They are committed, as we are, to the process.

“At BirthRoad, the explosion of the Internet as a global resource for surrogacy options has clearly enabled more heterosexual and gay couples and singles, in states and countries that prohibit surrogacy, to find organizations like ours and fulfill their dreams,” Buck added. “We can offer them the safety and security of knowing that the evidence-based outcomes have been stellar,” she said.