How Surrogates and Intended Parents Actually Get Matched

It's not a swipe-and-pair app. The introduction happens between two carefully prepared profiles, and both sides have to say yes. Here's how it works once Borne has handed you off to an agency.

Published May 22, 2026 · Updated October 7, 2026

Surrogates and intended parents are matched by people, not an app: once you've signed with an agency, it builds a profile you approve, a matching coordinator typically proposes one vetted family at a time based on practical fit, and you meet them on a facilitated video call. The match only moves forward when both you and the intended parents say yes independently.

People are often surprised by how slow and deliberate the surrogate-to-intended-parent introduction is. There's a quiet expectation that a database somewhere automatically pairs you with a family the moment you're cleared. It doesn't work that way — and the reason is the right one. A surrogacy match is an 11-to-14-month working relationship that touches medical decisions, money, legal documents, and a baby. It deserves more than an algorithm.

Here's what actually happens between the moment an agency takes you on and the moment you sit down for your first call with a family.

Step one: your surrogate profile gets built

Once you've signed with an agency, they put together a short profile from the information you've already shared with us and them. It's usually a few pages and reads more like a thoughtful introduction than a resume. Most profiles include:

• A few photos of you and your immediate family
• The basics: where you live, your work, what your household looks like
• Pregnancy history (number of children, type of deliveries, anything notable)
• Your "why" — the same answer you gave on the Borne call, often refined a little
• Your preferences and boundaries on the things that matter most: selective reduction, contact during and after the pregnancy, religious or values considerations - plus a shared plan to transfer one embryo at a time, which ASRM strongly recommends for surrogates

You see and approve your profile before it goes to anyone. Nothing in it should be a surprise.

Step two: intended parents have a profile too

Intended parents go through their own vetting before they're ever shown to a surrogate. By the time their profile reaches you, the agency has typically confirmed they're financially prepared, they've completed their own psych eval, they have viable embryos (or a clear timeline to make them), and they're working with a clinic. Their profile usually includes a letter to you — sometimes long, sometimes short — about who they are, what brought them to surrogacy, and what kind of relationship they're hoping for.

Reading those letters is, for a lot of surrogates, the moment the abstract idea of "intended parents" turns into a real family.

Step three: the agency proposes the match

This is the part that does have a little bit of algorithm behind it — but the algorithm is just a starting filter. The agency's matching coordinator pulls profiles where the practical pieces line up: same general region of the country (or willingness to fly), compatible views on selective reduction, agreement on single embryo transfer, a similar appetite for communication, and any specific preferences either side has flagged. Then a human decides who to actually introduce.

You'll typically be shown one family at a time. You read their profile and letter, and you say yes (proceed to the meeting), not yet (you want to keep looking), or hard no (something in the profile doesn't sit right). You're not committing to anything by saying yes — you're just agreeing to a conversation.

Step four: the match meeting

The match meeting is usually a video call of about an hour between you, the intended parents, and someone from the agency who's there to facilitate. It feels surprisingly normal — more like a first coffee than a job interview. The agency person opens, both sides introduce themselves, and then it's an open conversation. The topics that come up most are:

• What drew each of you to this
• How you'd want to communicate during the pregnancy — text? Monthly video? Joining major appointments?
• How you'd want to handle a hard medical conversation if it came up
• What you imagine after the birth — staying in touch? Photos? A complete close?
• Anything either side wants to flag now rather than later

The meeting is not the place for legal questions or compensation — those are handled separately, in writing, with attorneys. The meeting is about whether you can imagine going through a year together.

Step five: mutual selection

After the meeting, both sides usually take a day or two to think and then tell the agency yes, no, or "I need more information." A match only moves forward when both sides say yes independently. The agency doesn't pressure either party. If either side declines, you go back into the pool — and most surrogates who decline a first match do find their match within a few weeks.

What happens after a yes

Before any contract is signed, you - along with your partner if you have one, and/or your main support person - complete a psychological evaluation with a qualified mental health professional, and you and the intended parents have a joint session, led by a mental health professional, to make sure everyone's expectations line up. ASRM guidance calls for both.

Then you move into the legal phase. Your own independent surrogacy attorney - chosen by you and usually paid for by the intended parents - works only for you on the gestational carrier agreement, built on everything you and the intended parents agreed to. You'll get to review it, push back on anything that doesn't match what you remember, and add language that protects you - and no contract can take away your right to make decisions about your own body and medical care. Once your medical clearance is done, the contract is fully signed and your attorney has confirmed legal clearance to the clinic, your cycle can begin.

How long the matching phase takes

Borne's screening and agency handoff is one to two weeks. Once you're with the agency, time-to-match is usually two to eight weeks, depending on the agency's intended-parent pool, your location, and the specificity of your preferences. Specific preferences (a particular state, a single-parent family, a clinic close to home) make matches more meaningful but take a little longer to land. Broader preferences move faster. Neither approach is wrong — what matters is that you end up in a relationship that fits.