Surrogacy agency operations checklist: the SOPs every agency needs

Most agencies run on what the founder and two experienced coordinators know. That works until the agency grows, someone leaves, or a journey goes wrong and nobody can say what the process was. Writing your standard operating procedures down is how an agency scales without losing what makes it good.

Short answer: A surrogacy agency needs written SOPs for twelve areas: recruiting, intake, surrogate screening, intended parent onboarding and screening, matching, legal and insurance, medical coordination, pregnancy, delivery and post-birth, communication, data privacy and records, and finance and escrow coordination, plus staffing and coverage. Each SOP should say what triggers it, the steps in order, who owns each step, how long each should take, which templates and documents it uses, and what to do when something goes wrong. Then build the SOPs into your system as checklists, so the process runs on its own instead of living in a binder.

How to write an SOP

Keep each SOP to a page or two. Use the same headings every time:

• Trigger: what starts it (a new application, a signed match, a confirmed pregnancy).
• Steps, in order, each with an owner (a role, not a person's name) and a target time.
• Templates and documents: the messages, forms and agreements it uses.
• Decision rules: criteria, who decides, and how exceptions are approved.
• When it goes wrong: what to do and who to tell.
• Last reviewed date and owner.

Write SOPs with the people who do the work, from what actually happens, not what should happen. Then improve them.

The checklist, area by area

1. Recruiting

• Approved channels and messaging; ad review against platform policies.
• Recruiter and referral program rules, including how bonuses are earned.
• Source recorded on every applicant. See how to recruit surrogates.

2. Intake

• Response time targets for new applicants and inquiries.
• Follow-up sequence for unfinished applications and unbooked calls.
• Intake call guide and how outcomes are logged. See the intake call checklist.
• Text message consent and opt-outs.

3. Surrogate screening

• Written qualification criteria and how flags are reviewed.
• Records requests, background check consent and vendor, home visit or interview, psychological evaluation.
• Decline process and wording. See surrogate screening.

4. Intended parent onboarding and screening

• Consultation guide, service agreement and fees.
• Identity, background and readiness checks; counselling. See screening intended parents.

5. Matching

• Which profiles are shared, by whom, and how holds work.
• Profile standards and review. See building a surrogate profile.
• Introduction call format; how each side gives its decision.

6. Legal and insurance

• Attorney referral list and independence; contract tracking; escrow funding; insurance review; legal clearance to the clinic. See the legal process.

7. Medical coordination

• Sharing records with the clinic (with consent), medication and appointment reminders, travel, transfer and beta communication.

8. Pregnancy

• Check-in cadence, OB updates, parentage timeline, birth and hospital plan. See post-match case management.

9. Delivery and post-birth

• On-call coverage, hospital readiness, documents, recovery check-ins, close-out and a feedback request.

10. Communication

• Channels, cadence by stage, language support, who delivers difficult news and how, message templates.

11. Data privacy and records

• What is collected, where it is stored, who can access it, how it is shared, retention, and the breach plan. See HIPAA and data privacy.

12. Finance and escrow coordination

• Fee collection, milestone confirmations to escrow, receipts, statements and close-out. See compensation and escrow tracking.

13. Staffing and coverage

• Caseload guidelines, backups for every journey, onboarding new staff, leaving staff and access removal. See staffing and caseloads.

Making SOPs live, not a binder

An SOP in a shared folder is read once, at onboarding. An SOP built into the system is followed every time. The steps of each SOP become a checklist on the person or the match; the target times become due dates; the templates become messages that send when a step starts; the owners become the person whose list the step lands on. Then you can see, at a glance, where every journey is against the process, and change the process in one place when you improve it.

Review each SOP at least once a year, and after anything goes wrong.

Where to start if you have none

Do not try to write all thirteen at once. Start with the three that cause the most pain when they go wrong, which for most agencies are intake (because slow replies cost matches), legal and insurance (because that is where journeys stall) and communication (because it drives most complaints). Write each with the person who does that work, use it for a month, fix what does not match reality, and move on to the next. Within a quarter most agencies have the core set.

When you hire, the SOPs become the training plan. When someone leaves, they are what stays.

An example SOP: a new surrogate application

Exceptions (an applicant just outside your BMI range, a delivery complication that needs a second look) go to a named person, and the decision is noted on her record. The targets are your agency's to set; the point is that they are written down and visible.

How SurroHub helps

SurroHub turns your SOPs into workflows that run themselves.

• Ready-made journeys. Surrogate, intended parent, egg donor and match workflows come ready to use, and all of it is yours to change.
• Owners and due dates. Build the path once: the steps, when each is due and whose job it is. Tick a step and the next starts, its due date counted from that day, on the right person's list.
• Messages that send themselves. A welcome email, a text reminder, the next form or contract: sent the moment a step starts, or later if you prefer.
• Nothing slips. When a step runs late, the coordinator hears about it and a to-do lands on their list.
• Import your process. Bring an existing checklist in with Import on the Workflows page, mapping each step's owner and due date.
• Templates in one place. Message templates and contract templates the whole team uses.

Want the facts in one place? SurroHub by the numbers: what it is, who built it, and what agencies run on it today.

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