Have questions about surrogacy?
Why New Hampshire?
Can I live anywhere?
Do you offer other services besides surrogacy?
How long does the process take?
What is the difference between traditional surrogacy and gestational surrogacy? Will the surrogate be genetically related to the child?
How are the surrogates and intended parents matched?
Do you help with same-sex couples or single individuals wishing to start a family?
Are the surrogates screened? How do I know they are healthy?
How much does it cost?
The first step is to contact the Avenues to Surrogacy
team by completing our online form
Once you have contacted us at Avenues to Surrogacy by phone or email, a team member will connect with you and schedule an initial conversation.
We will answer any questions you might have about our agency and the surrogacy process. We will also review the application and documentation needed to begin the process.
If you decide to move forward, we will give you the full application packet.
Avenues to Surrogacy is a full-service agency providing support, advice, and assistance to people hoping to create a family through surrogacy.
We understand that if you are looking to become a parent through surrogacy or are seeking to become a gestational carrier, the process can seem overwhelming.
The Avenues to Surrogacy team is here for you.
Let avenues to surrogacy guide
you through this life changing event
Surrogacy can provide an exciting and rewarding way for couples and individual to fulfill their dreams of becoming parents.
Avenues to Surrogacy is the first and only surrogacy agency in New Hampshire.
Our goal is to provide you with individualized attention and to guide you through the surrogacy journey.
Our team will be with you every step of the way to answer questions and make the process enjoyable and fulfilling.
At Avenues to Surrogacy, the surrogacy process is a team effort. Your team consists of you, your gestational carrier, our agency, your attorney and your IVF clinic.
We are here to make each stage of the process as smooth as possible and to ensure that it is fulfilling and enjoyable.
Our team understands that you may have a lot of questions about the process and whether it is right for you and your family.
We will be here to answer questions, guide, and support you every step of the way.
The Avenues to Surrogacy team will review your completed packet and contact you with any follow-up questions. Next, we will schedule an in-person meeting with our social worker to review any other questions you or we may have.
the completed intended parent application
signed medical records releases
releases for criminal background checks and child abuse registry checks
photos of you and your family to use for your matching profile
We then create a match profile based on your information. The profile will include your first name, the answers you provided to the questions on the application and a photo. It will not include your last name or any other identifying information.
After reviewing the match profiles of both the gestational surrogate and intended parents, we match parties according to their preferences and other application criteria. We take whatever time is needed in this initial stage to make sure that the parties are compatible.
Once we have identified a potential match, we send the gestational surrogate’s profile to the intended parents for review. If the intended parents are interested in pursuing a match, we send the gestational surrogate the intended parents profile for review.
If both parties agree to the match, an Avenues to Surrogacy team member will schedule a time for an initial phone call between the parties. After the phone call, if everyone is still interested in pursuing the match, we schedule an in-person meeting or video conference. This meeting helps both parties determine if they can work together.
The next step is the screening process. Some of our intended parents already have relationships with an IVF clinic or fertility doctor; if this is the case you may continue working with these professionals.
If you do not have an existing relationship, we can recommend IVF clinics and fertility doctors to you. During this stage, the gestational surrogate’s information would be shared with the clinic, and the clinic would schedule medical and psychological screenings for all parties.
As part of our process, the gestational surrogate and intended parents are each represented by separate attorneys to prepare the Gestational Surrogate Contract. We will provide you with the names of attorneys who are familiar with surrogacy, and you will select an independent attorney to represent you throughout the contract negotiations. The gestational surrogate’s legal expenses will be paid for by the intended parents.
The intended parents’ attorney will prepare the Gestational Surrogate Contract and will forward the document to the gestational surrogate’s attorney for your review.
The attorney will guide you through the contract, make any changes you request and resubmit the amended contract to the intended parents’ attorney.
To eliminate any uncertainty about the payment of fees and expenses to the gestational surrogate, the payment schedule is documented in the contract. All funds paid by the intended parents are placed into an escrow account in advance and are paid out as agreed upon according to the schedule in the Gestational Surrogate Contract.
Once both the intended parents and gestational surrogate agree, they sign the Gestational Surrogate Contract. This document must be signed before the IVF stage can begin. Often, the screening stage and contract stage can be done simultaneously, however.
The IVF clinic will set up a protocol to prepare the gestational surrogate’s body to carry the pregnancy. This will involve taking medications and synchronizing the surrogate’s cycle with that of the intended mother or egg donor. Once everyone is ready, a transfer day is scheduled.
The clinic will do a pregnancy test approximately two weeks after the transfer. If the test is positive, we move onto the pregnancy stage. If the test is negative, the IVF process may be repeated with the permission of both parties.
After a positive pregnancy test, the clinic will make an appointment for an ultrasound to confirm a visible heartbeat. The clinic will monitor the gestational surrogate for a period of time before releasing her to her own OB/GYN, who will provide the prenatal care for the remainder of the pregnancy.
During this time, we encourage the intended parents develop a relationship with the gestational surrogate.
For example, we suggest our intended parents attend as many prenatal appointments as possible.
You will also have ongoing support and contact from the Avenues to Surrogacy team.
We will check in with you regularly and are available to answer your questions along the way.
During the second trimester, the intended parents’ attorney will file a pre-birth order with the court stating that this will be a surrogate birth and the names of the intended parents should be identified on the birth certificate.
Around the same time, you will collaborate with the gestational surrogate to develop a birth plan in order to clarify and define expectations relating to labor and delivery.
Avenues to Surrogacy will contact the hospital where your baby will be born to make sure the staff members there have a copy of the birth plan and understand that this is a surrogate birth.
The long-awaited birth day will arrive. You will spend time in the hospital with the gestational surrogate and getting to know your new baby. What an amazing gift!
or calling us at
to request an initial conversation.
During the conversation, we will walk you through the process and answer your questions.
Agency Director
Kristine A. Pries
Kristine Pries is the Agency Director at Avenues to Surrogacy. She oversees the day-to-day operations and works with all clients to ensure a positive experience. Kristine’s extensive background in education provides a strong foundation for her work with intended parents and gestational carriers throughout their surrogacy journey.
As Director, Kristine works to supervise many aspects of the process. She oversees the matching between gestational carriers and surrogates, advises clients on surrogacy best practices, and ensures all details of the surrogacy contracts are accounted for and complied with during the process. Kristine is often the first point of contact for potential new parents and surrogates, and spends a great deal of time helping families and individuals decide if gestational surrogacy is the right path for them.
Kristine earned her Bachelor’s Degree from Keene State College, where she majored in Early Childhood Education. She started her career as a teacher, working with children in preschool and kindergarten, before eventually serving as a childcare director and private school principal.
James J. Bianco, Jr. is a practicing attorney in Concord, New Hampshire and is the founder of Avenues to Surrogacy.
After graduating from law school in 1972, Jim was counsel to New Hampshire’s Department of Health and Human Services. In that role, he co-authored New Hampshire’s first adoption law. In 1981, Jim opened his own law firm, Bianco Professional Association, and started the firm’s nationwide adoption practice. As the practice grew, Jim recognized that there were many different ways in which to grow a family. He saw that gestational surrogacy, like adoption, was an incredible way to help people build or expand their families. In 2014, Jim was the lead attorney who worked diligently to revise New Hampshire’s outdated surrogacy statute. He is proud to be a part of New Hampshire’s first surrogacy agency, Avenues to Surrogacy.
Today, Jim is considered one of the region’s premier adoption and surrogacy attorneys. He was recently named an Angel In Adoption by the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI) in Washington, DC, after being nominated by United States Senator Jeanne Shaheen.
Jim earned his Bachelor’s Degree from the University of New Hampshire in Durham, New Hampshire, and his Juris Doctor from Suffolk University Law School in Boston, Massachusetts. He is a former adjunct professor at Franklin Pierce Law Center (now the University of New Hampshire School of Law) and Notre Dame College.
Founder
James J. Bianco, JR., Esquire