Recently, it became possible for man-man couples in the Netherlands to get a baby with the help of a surrogate and in some cases a gamete-donor. As it is likely more parents will chose this route, it is important to have good counseling guidelines to help them developing as well as possible. Unfortunately, there is no empirical evidence for such guidelines.

We aim to investigate wellbeing, development, counseling and support needs of prospective parents, surrogates, gamete donors, and children born through surrogacy in a longitudinal study starting before conception. This will be done by conducting interviews, having parents, surrogates and gamete-donors filling in questionnaires, and gathering observational data from children born by surrogacy. Besides that, retrospective needs of gay fathers using surrogacy outside of the Netherlands will also be studied to give insight in long-term demands. Societal perspectives on surrogacy will be studied to gain insight in reactions families created this way might face. Evaluation of this data will lead to counseling guidelines for intended parents and surrogates entering the process of surrogacy.

The study  was rewarded with NWO funding.