Embryo Adoption Resources

Snowflakes Embryo Adoption is uniquely child-centered. The program was established in 1997 to address the problem created by medical science of remaining frozen embryos in storage.  Snowflakes is the only licensed and accredited embryo adoption agency in the world. There are now over 1,000,000 embryos in frozen storage in the U.S.  Of course, some of those embryos remain frozen to help the families who created them have more children in their own family.  Some will be donated to science and some will simply be thawed and discarded. But as more couples with remaining embryos are made aware of their ability to choose a family for their remaining embryos, through an adoption model, they are excited for the opportunity to give their embryos a chance to live in an adoptive family.

Donated Embryos are not Disbursed Among Multiple Families

We are child-centered and we do our best to keep siblings together. Adoption professionals agree that keeping siblings together is a paramount value. Whether children are adopted from another country, through foster care, or domestic placement, we always work diligently to place all siblings into one adopting family. Nightlight extends this family value to embryo child adoption. Our Snowflakes team provides matching services that take into consideration the preferences of both the donor and the adopting families and then places all of the donor’s embryos into that adoptive family’s care.

Since our program encourages open adoption, communication between matched families will be mutually agreed upon between them. Clearly, limiting the number of families in which full genetic siblings exist is a benefit to all. The more families involved, the more difficult it becomes to establish and maintain relationships. It should be noted that some programs charge additional fees to keep the sibling set of embryos together or even charge individual fees for each embryo received. Nightlight values keeping a single donor’s embryos together and charges no additional fees.

Fertility Clinics – working with clinics throughout the United States

Snowflakes has partnered with clinics in the U.S. for adopting families to have their Frozen Embryo Transfer (FET) treatment. This covers the majority of regional areas in the U.S. making travel simple and fast. Most adopters choose to work with the Snowflakes preferred partner clinic that is nearest to them for convenience, but you may also have the opportunity to travel to the clinic that created the embryos. The majority of our partner clinics are comfortable allowing patients to complete medical prep at another clinic if they are a significant distance from the family. This can include ultrasounds, medications, blood work, and follow up visits.

While we understand you may already have a relationship with a specific clinic, our team has found that by working with specific clinics we are able to get you to your goal of pregnancy and childbirth more quickly. You may still be able to work with your current doctor for medical preparation.

Clinic embryo donation programs are primarily anonymous in their administration.  Personal information about the donor family is not provided and only rudimentary medical information. There is no contact between the families before or after the birth, even through an intermediary. The clinic is required to keep records of the donation for seven years and additional information about the donor family is typically not released, even in the event of a medical emergency. Embryos are be donated directly to the clinic and the clinic determines who receives them. If a donor family has a large number of embryos, they may be given to multiple families [e.g.: If 10 embryos are donated anonymously, 4 are given to family A; 3 are given to family B; and 3 are given to family C]. This means that there could be fully related genetic siblings in several families, living within a reasonably close geographic proximity and none of them would be known by the other.

Snowflakes provides the same safeguards that the traditional adoption process offers, allowing you access to important information about the genetic family that can help your child answer their questions about their origins. You also have the opportunity to have a relationship with your child’s genetic family. Whether you exchange pictures and letters, have telephone conversations, or choose to meet the genetic family, you will know that you have access to information about your child’s history. Nightlight is available to facilitate communication between the families and is also available to educate and work with you about how to talk to your child(ren) about their unique conception and adoption-related issues. While this isn’t the solution for everyone, we believe that families who prefer an adoption model should have access to it.

Snowflakes can help create families for couples whose infertility does not allow them to create their own biological families, specifically couples considering egg or sperm donation, or couples who want to build their family through adoption and be able to experience pregnancy and control the pre-natal environment of their child.

When donating embryos through an adoption agency the embryo donor is empowered with knowledge and control of their embryo donation.  It is not anonymous. You choose the adopting family. You know the outcome of the transfer and pregnancy. You can be assured that Snowflakes provides the same safeguards that the traditional adoption process offers. The embryo donator knows the adoptive family has been screened for a criminal history and child abuse record, and received education about how to parent an adopted child. They have the peace of mind of having handpicked a family for their remaining embryos. They also have the opportunity to have contact with the adopting family to whatever extent both families are comfortable.

You would have a chance to have knowledge regarding your child’s genetic history. Whether you exchange pictures and letters, have telephone conversations, or choose to meet the placing family, you will know that you have access to information about your child’s history. Nightlight is available to facilitate communication between the families and is also available to educate and work with you about how to talk to your child(ren) about their unique conception and adoption-related issues.

Why would we choose embryo adoption instead of traditional adoption of a newborn?

The most obvious difference between an embryo adoption and a traditional domestic adoption is the pregnancy experience.

Adoptive moms are able to experience the joys (and challenges!) of pregnancy and labor. You also have the peace of mind of knowing you control the pre-natal environment of your baby.

Although an embryo adoption allows more control in some ways, it provides less in other ways. You cannot choose the gender of the child as you might in an international or older child adoption, and you cannot change your mind and choose not accept the baby for whatever reason after he or she is born. In addition, because up to three embryos are transferred at once, you might have twins or triplets. Embryo adoption can also be more difficult emotionally than traditional adoption, since there is no guarantee that in the end you will have a child.

Since 1997, Nightlight has completed over 1000 embryo adoptions. Nightlight completes about 150-160 embryo adoptions each year and with ongoing embryo transfers there are always 25-35 babies due at any given time.

The Snowflake program offers embryo adoption to people worldwide. Most of the embryo donation and adoption process can be completed via phone and email. However, the frozen embryo transfer for international families must happen in the U.S. All available donated embryos in the program are located in U.S. clinics or storage facilities.

The Snowflake program has created a guide and associated forms to help you prepare appropriate instructions and documentation for your subsequent representative upon your death.