 There are new egg donor and surrogate agencies opening constantly. How do you go about selecting the right agency to work with? How do you know who you can trust? Read our founder's blog post explaining the top 10 questions to ask and things to consider when choosing an egg donation or a surrogacy agency:
https://www.fertilityauthority.com/blog/stephanie-levich/2015/11/20/ten-tips-choosing-right-egg-donor-or-surrogate-agency
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Family Match Consulting was proud to attend the Feit 4 Kidz 3rd Annual SOLD OUT Gala at the W Hotel in Hollywood on Saturday night. The Feit 4 Kidz Fertility Fund provides interest free loans of up to $15,000 to Jewish couples undergoing fertility treatments. The fund was made possible by the Jewish Free Loan Association (JFLA) and a generous donation from Emily and Alan Feit. Emily and Alan continues to generously donate their time, efforts, and money to make Feit 4 Kidz a possibility. The night opened with a beautiful and touching speech made by Emily Dubin Field and her husband Gregg Field about their long journey going through infertility which ended with the birth of their daughter earlier this year, thanks to the help of their gestational surrogate. Emily and Gregg are just one of the many couples that the Feit 4 Kidz Fertility Fund has been able to help. In fact, since its inception, Fiet 4 Kidz has loaned out $874,000 to 52 different families and so far, 7 babies have been born with their assistance. They hoped to raise $50,000 at the event but quickly raised the goal to $60,000 due to all the generous contributions that came pouring in. Emily and Alan announced that they would personally match whatever was raised and Alan's parents generously agreed to do the same. There was an impressive silent auction and comedian Jodi Miller from America's Got Talent performed a hilarious stand up routine about fertility. Attendees were loan recipients, those who fought and won the infertility battle, those still struggling, reproductive endocrinologists, surrogacy agencies, egg donor agencies, and many who have seen family members or friends struggle with infertility. So many people came together for different reasons to help raise money for this amazing cause. Feit 4 Kidz made a very exciting announcement just days before the fundraiser. Starting January 2016, they will be offering loans for fertility treatments to ALL faiths! As they said in their announcement, "Infertility does not discriminate; neither do we." Learn more about Feit 4 Kidz and the JFLA here: www.jfla.org
 New blog written by our Founder, Stephanie Levich explaining the significance of an egg donor's location.
https://www.fertilityauthority.com/blog/stephanie-levich/2015/7/24/egg-donor-location-does-it-matter  Our Founder Stephanie Levich is very excited to be blogging for Fertility Authority. She plans to share information about egg donation, surrogacy, including her own personal adoption and IVF story.
Fertility Authority is truly the one stop shop for all things fertility. You can find a doctor, other professionals to assist you throughout your journey, learn about various treatment methods, and become part of a community that truly "gets it." Read Stephanie's first blog post about her own personal coping strategies when going through infertility here: https://www.fertilityauthority.com/blog/stephanie-levich/2015/5/29/five-things-helped-me-cope-infertility
Family Match Consulting is proud to have partnered with Gifted Journey's Egg Donor and Surrogate Agency to sponsor our "Fit 4 Fertility" boot camp fundraiser benefiting RESOLVE - The National Infertility Association. RESOLVE offers guidance and support for those that have struggled or are struggling with infertility.
On Saturday April 25, in honor of National Infertility Awareness Week, 50 people gathered at Warner Center Park in Woodland Hills to get fit for a cause! We raised over $2,000! And we shared our experiences to offer hope and to remind each other, that even through our darkest times, we are not alone. Here's a slideshow highlighting the event:
1 in 8 couples of childbearing age will be diagnosed with infertility. If you haven't personally been affected by infertility, there's a good chance someone you know has. In honor of National Infertility Awareness Week, please join Family Match Consulting and Gifted Journey's Egg Donation and Surrogacy Agency on Saturday April 25th at Warner Center Park in Woodland Hills, CA at 9am to get "Fit 4 Fertility", a boot camp benefiting RESOLVE - National Infertility Association.
Warner Center Park is located at: 5800 Topanga Canyon Blvd Woodland Hills, CA 91367 And if boot camp isn't your thing, that's OK! All are welcome whether you are working out, or just hanging out! We especially encourage those who have struggled with infertility to bring your children as we plan to take fun photos with messages of hope for those that are still struggling. Your $15 donation will be your ticket to the event. Donate $25 and receive 3 raffle tickets! Donate $50 and receive 10 raffle tickets! Raffle tickets can also be purchased the day of the event for $5 each. Prizes include: 1. Lululemon merchandise 2. Personal training sessions with published fitness author Theresa Sauter 3. Haircut and blow-dry by Erin Kelpetar with Claudio Marino Salon in Woodland Hills 4. Family meal from Dickey's BBQ Pit in Woodland Hills 4. Gift basket from Cleopatra's Choice hair and skin care 5. Jewelry from DOGEARED - (available at Nordstrom) 6. Party pack of Sun-Staches, featured on ABC's hit show Shark Tank All attendees will receive a free swag bag as a thank you for attending! If you would like to volunteer at the event or help in any way, please contact Stephanie Levich at 818-495-0203 or email stephanie@familymatchconsulting.com. All proceeds will benefit RESOLVE - the National Infertility Association. Learn more about RESOLVE here: http://www.resolve.org/ Visit event page here for details on attending: https://www.crowdrise.com/fit4fertility  Parents Via Egg Donation (known as PVED) is a fabulous non-profit organization that offers support and resources for all people seeking information about egg donation. Founded by Marna Gatlin, PVED was the first, and remains the largest support group for parents and parents-to-be who are considering egg donation to build their family.
We hope that anyone and everyone exploring egg donation will enlist the help of PVED. They offer a ton of free information and resources and have message boards where thousands of people connect to share information and encouragement. Visit Parents Via Egg Donation at: www.pved.org Family Match Consulting is giving away one FREE egg donor search, with add on follow up option to a member of PVED. Package is a $1,350 value! To enter, please answer the following questions and email responses to: support@familymatchconsulting.com by APRIL 15th, 2015. Winner will be contacted that day. Please be sure to include: 1. Name of fertility doctor and fertility clinic 2. Brief explanation of your fertility journey thus far 3. Characteristics you seek in a donor. Please include ethnicity, location, physical characteristics, education, and any other important information. (Don't worry, if selected we will review this in detail and assist with any fine-tuning before we start our search.) 4. Desired time frame for cycle 5. Phone number and if it is OK to leave a message at that number To Qualify, you MUST: 1. Have a fertility clinic selected 2. Be prepared to cycle at this time (within approximately 30-90 days) of your donor search Please Note: 1. The $1,350 search fee will be completely waived. Winner will be required to sign program agreement prior to the search commencing. 2. While Family Match Consulting's fee will be waived, winner will still be responsible for all other fees and expenses associated with the egg donation process including but not limited to agency fee, donor compensation, IVF fees, legal fees, etc. 3. Winner is under no obligation to select an egg donor that is presented to them. 4. All services and contest submissions are strictly confidential. Love and baby dust to all!!! <3  Finding the right donor, the one that allows you to stop your search and just KNOW you are making the right choice is a huge challenge for anyone. How do you know you are making the right decision? What should you be looking for? Our Founder has over 10 years of experience in matching recipient parents with egg donors and she shares some of her tips here.
1. Health - Certainly this is one of the top priorities to consider when selecting an egg donor. While most agencies will not approve egg donors with serious health conditions, every person has some family history of illness. You want to make sure that a donor's health history is compatible with your family's history. For example, if the intended father or sperm donor has a history of heart disease in the family, that may be something you want to avoid when selecting your egg donor. Keep in mind that finding a donor with all grandparents alive and well without any medical conditions is extraordinarily rare, so create a list of "deal breakers" and outside of that, try and have an open mind. During your intake with Family Match Consulting, we will discuss your family health history and make sure we are only seeking donors with a background that makes you feel completely comfortable. 2. Physical Characteristics - Our clients typically want to find an egg donor with similar characteristics to the recipient mother, or someone who looks like they would fit into their family. Hair color, eye color, height, ethnicity, etc. are some of the things to consider when reviewing profiles. We will help you fine tune your wish list so we are only presenting you with the profiles of the donors that most closely fit the criteria you seek. It is important not to place too much importance on each individual characteristic though. For example, if you are seeking a donor that is 5'7", but find a fabulous candidate with so many qualities you seek, but she happens to be 5'5", I don't recommend ruling her out. We've seen many clients discount a donor for similar reasons but later realize she's a great fit but by then she's already been selected by another recipient. 3. Education - For many clients, finding a donor with a strong academic background is important. We've worked with clients where both parents have attended Ivy League Universities so it is important for the donor to be attending or have graduated from the same. While we can certainly do a search for this, the results will be limiting. There are thousands of wonderful egg donors that have graduated from top universities, some with honors. There are also incredibly bright donors without the means or opportunities to attend some of the top schools, so they are pursuing an Associate's Degree from their local college with hopes of transferring to a four year university afterwards. Some donors skipped school entirely but launched successful careers as entrepreneurs. These are all things to consider when narrowing down candidates. 4. Location - Most donors are very willing and able to travel for a cycle, though some do have travel restrictions and therefore can only complete cycles near their hometown. Selecting a donor that lives out of the area, or out of state from your fertility clinic does increase the cost of the process, but it also opens up your search. For clients in major cities like Los Angeles, or Chicago, finding a local donor with the qualities you seek will be much easier. However for clients in more remote areas, we recommend opening up your search which will give you far more choices. 5. A gut feeling - While you may be seeking a donor that is Caucasian, brown haired, blue eyed, tall, college educated, athletic, with a healthy family history...at the end of the day, it really comes down to whether or not there is a "connection" that you feel when reading the donor's profile. I always tell clients that one final question you can ask yourself about a candidate is "would this donor sit around a family gathering of yours and look and seem as though she fits in?" Sometimes that answer will provide a lot of clarity. While finding an egg donor is a challenge, enlisting the help of a search service can help take some of the stress away. Our experienced consultants will walk each client through the selection process and then search close to 100 agency databases to only provide you with the profiles of donors that fit the criteria you seek. We wish everyone pursuing their dream of a family - weather it be through IVF, egg donation, surrogacy, adoption, and all things in between, all the very best of luck. With love and copious amounts of baby dust, The FMC team Thanks for stopping by our blog! We're happy you found us! Family Match Consulting is devoted to helping clients navigate the bumpy, windy, and sometimes excruciatingly long journey towards a baby. We help clients find their perfect egg donor and surrogate.
Our blog will provide fertility resources, success stories, and tons of information that might be helpful to anyone going through the fertility process. We hope you'll bookmark us and check in often! And if you are a client or colleague and would like to have your story or article published, please reach out to us! With love and TONS of baby dust to all that need it, The FMC team |
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