When it comes to navigating the intricate path of surrogacy, nothing matters more than having a dedicated surrogacy team—people who understand both the technical, medical steps and the emotional landscape. For intended parents and surrogates alike, this team is the anchor: the guide through screening, matching, medical care, legal work, and the many uncertainties that come with this life-changing journey. Since its establishment in 2012, International Surrogacy Center (ISC) has built its reputation precisely by ensuring that every person involved—intended parent, surrogate, or donor—is supported by a compassionate, deeply knowledgeable team. ISC’s mission is not only to help families grow, but to do so with integrity, transparency, and ethical practice. Its leadership and staff frequently emphasize that building trust is just as essential as medical success.

Services That Transform Dreams into Reality
ISC provides a full spectrum of surrogacy agency services: matching intended parents and surrogates, screening and medical assessment, legal coordination, emotional support, and guidance at every stage. For intended parents, ISC works with IVF clinics that have proven track records, ensuring that medical partners are among the best in the country. The matching process involves finding surrogates who both meet clients’ medical and personal preferences, and whose own lifestyles, health, and pregnancy history support a high likelihood of successful outcomes. Prospective surrogates undergo a rigorous screening process—health assessments, past pregnancy experience, lifestyle checks, and interviews (both in person and via video). Only a portion of surrogate applicants pass the screening stage, which underscores ISC’s selective standards. Surrogacy-friendly states factor in heavily for many applicants, though ISC considers surrogates from across the U.S. where legally feasible.

Legal guidance and protections are an essential pillar. Because surrogacy laws vary significantly by state—and international clients often face additional complexity—ISC works with attorneys and legal experts to ensure contracts are clear, enforceable, and that both parties’ rights and responsibilities are protected. This includes compensation agreements, medical coverage, travel and logistical costs, and ongoing support.

Behind every embryo transfer, pregnancy milestone, or legal document is a human story, and ISC strives to keep that story front and center. Many elements of ISC’s service reflect this: surrogates receive continuous emotional support; intended parents can access guidance and community; communication is clear and frequent; staff members are available around the clock. One of the distinguishing features of ISC is that a large portion of its team have themselves been IVF patients, surrogates, or donors. This experience enables ISC to speak not just from theory but from lived experience—a factor that many clients say brings comfort and trust. That authenticity comes through in their guidance, when navigating hard decisions, and in how they support surrogates, who are making selfless choices. Compensation for surrogates is structured thoughtfully. ISC emphasizes fairness, transparency, and medical quality. Surrogate mothers are matched carefully and supported medically, legally, and emotionally—which helps foster high probabilities of success and positive experiences for all parties.

Serving a Global Community of Intended Parents
While ISC operates surrogates primarily within the United States, its reach is international. Many of its clients are intended parents from around the globe who wish to work with U.S.-based gestational carriers or surrogates. Working across borders adds layers of complexity—visa and travel issues, international legal recognition, varying laws about parentage and citizenship—but ISC has developed expertise in managing those challenges. The agency offers clarity, guidance, and dependable support through entire journeys, whether clients are domestic or international. Another aspect that appeals to many intended parents is transparency around fees. ISC does not charge agency fees until after a surrogate has been medically screened and cleared. That policy reduces financial risk for intended parents early in the process, while still ensuring that costs are accounted for once serious matches proceed.

International Surrogacy Center has positioned itself not just as a surrogacy agency, but as an advocate for best practices in the field. It is affiliated with prominent organizations including Resolve, SEEDS (Society for Ethics in Egg Donation and Surrogacy), and the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. These affiliations help ensure ISC stays current with ethical guidelines, medical standards, and evolving legal frameworks.

Surrogacy, despite its fulfilling outcomes, is not without challenges. The medical risks to surrogates, legal complexities, international logistics, emotional stress, and ethical concerns all require careful management. ISC accommodates by the rigorous screening of surrogates, close medical partnerships, legal protections, and emotional support. The process is long (often more than a year from matching through birth) and involves many stakeholders, each with their own needs, expectations, and legal constraints. ISC also helps intended parents understand exactly what to expect—with full disclosure of medical, legal, financial, and emotional dimensions.

Surrogacy is expensive; intended parents often face high medical, legal, and agency fees. ISC’s no-agency-fee-until-screened policy reduces some risk, and the agency provides guidance on budgeting, travel, and legal expectations. Emotional costs are also significant, and ISC’s support system—staff who have themselves walked the path—helps smooth difficult moments.

A Vision Forward
ISC was founded by Maria Valencia, who had already been involved in the assisted reproductive technology (ART) field since 2001, before formally launching the agency in 2012. Her years of working with fertility, intended parents, and surrogacy laid a foundation of firsthand familiarity with both the wonders and challenges of ART and third-party reproduction. That early experience shapes ISC’s philosophy: caring, sincere, and experienced staff who often have personal connections to the surrogacy journey themselves. Many ISC staff have participated in the roles of surrogates, egg donors, or have had IVF or family-building experiences.

In 2024, ISC appointed Arianna Shelter as Chief Executive Officer. She has been with ISC since 2016, holding various roles—from Intake to Case Management and Agency Director—before assuming the CEO role. Her own surrogacy journey (2013-2015) was filled with complications but ended in success. That deeply personal history gives ISC’s leadership a perspective in which policies, processes, and client relationships are shaped not just by professionalism, but by lived experience.

Under Arianna’s leadership, ISC is aiming to further improve efficiencies without sacrificing compassion. There is ongoing work to optimize matching speed, tighten medical screening, and improve the agency’s support networks—especially for international clients and surrogates from more distant locations. ISC also seeks to increase community outreach and education, dispelling myths about surrogacy, improving public understanding, and strengthening ethical norms in third-party reproduction. Moreover, ISC’s advocacy with SEEDS, ASRM, and other professional bodies reflects a commitment not just to serve clients, but to help shape the industry. This includes better standardization, stronger legal protections for surrogates, more consistent medical care, and emotional and psychological support frameworks that are often under-emphasized in other agencies.