KinPath Core Principles
Our commitment to ethical, transparent and fully accountable surrogacy
At KinPath Surrogacy, we believe that how a surrogacy journey is conducted matters as much as the outcome. Our programmes are built on a foundation of ethical practice, financial transparency, and deep respect for every person involved — intended parents, surrogates, and egg donors alike.
The principles below are not aspirational statements. They are the operating standards every KinPath programme adheres to. We publish them here so that our clients and surrogates can hold us to account.
KinPath is a proud member of Men Having Babies (MHB). Our programmes are fully aligned with the MHB Baseline Protocols for Ethical Surrogacy Providers (updated November 2025), and in several key areas we go further.
1
Informed Consent
Before any contract is signed or any medical procedure commences, every surrogate and egg donor receives a full, plain-language explanation of the personal commitment and medical risks involved. This includes possible complications, invasive procedures, and the emotional demands of the journey.
Every surrogate and donor has the right to independent medical advice — from a professional of her own choosing — before, during, and after treatment. The cost of that independent advice is borne by the intended parents. No one proceeds until they have genuinely understood what they are agreeing to.
2
Medical Screening
All prospective surrogates and egg donors undergo comprehensive medical screening prior to any match being proposed. This includes a full review of the surrogate’s medical records. Where direct access to records is not possible, equivalent pre-match safeguards are applied. Screening is designed to confirm that a surrogate is healthy and well-placed to complete the journey with minimal risk to herself and the child.
3
Social and Psychological Screening
Surrogacy is a significant undertaking. KinPath conducts thorough social and psychological screening of all surrogate candidates, carried out by appropriately licensed professionals, to ensure:
- She fully understands the emotional demands of the journey.
- She has the social and emotional resilience to participate.
- The journey will not irreparably damage her close personal relationships.
- Her long-term wellbeing will not be jeopardised by social stigma or disapproval in her community.
- She is financially stable and is not being coerced into the process. No surrogate should depend on surrogacy compensation for basic necessities.
- She holds permanent legal residency status in the jurisdiction where she will carry and deliver the child.
4
Medical Terms Agreement
Before contracts are signed, all parties reach an explicit agreement on the key medical parameters of the journey, including:
- The maximum number of embryos to be transferred.
- The number of permitted transfer attempts.
- The approach to invasive diagnostic procedures such as amniocentesis.
- The agreed position on selective reduction and, where relevant, termination.
- The planned method of delivery.
5
Contractual and Financial Transparency
No medical treatment commences until fully executed contracts are in place. Every contract sets out in clear terms the obligations, restrictions, compensation structure, and planned procedures for all parties.
Compensation is not contingent on outcome. A surrogate is compensated for her time, effort, and the physical and emotional burdens she takes on — regardless of whether a pregnancy is achieved or results in a live birth. Compensation structures include:
- Base Compensation and Milestone Payments — Restitution for the burdens of the surrogacy process, pregnancy, and labour, including risks, disruption to daily life, and physical discomfort.
- Milestone payments are scheduled at key stages: embryo transfer, trimester completions, and delivery.
- Contingency and Reimbursable Expenses — Covering travel, medical expenses, complications, bed rest, lost wages, and any extraordinary circumstances affecting the surrogate's health or wellbeing.
6
Financial Mediators
All surrogate compensation and expense reimbursements are paid directly to the surrogate, or to accounts she owns. There is no ambiguity about where her money goes. If any intermediary is involved in financial arrangements on her behalf, that arrangement — including any commission — must be fully disclosed to and consented to by all parties before the journey begins.
7
Full Payment Visibility via the KinPath App
KinPath has built a proprietary mobile application that gives every party real-time visibility into the financial progress of their journey. Financial transparency is not just good practice — it builds trust and prevents misunderstandings.
Through the KinPath app, every surrogate has access to:
- Her signed payment agreement.
- A complete history of all payments she has received.
- A calendar of her forthcoming milestone and contingency payments.
Intended parents have access to:
- A complete history of all payments they have made.
- A calendar of forthcoming payment obligations.
No party is left guessing about money. The app creates a shared, objective, real-time record that protects everyone.
8
Independent Legal Representation
Every surrogate and donor is entitled to independent legal representation throughout contract negotiations and finalisation. At KinPath, this is non-negotiable. No surrogate signs a contract without having had the benefit of her own legal counsel, entirely separate from the legal representation of the intended parents.
The only exception is uncontested parentage proceedings where no conflict of interest exists, or where genuine good faith efforts to provide representation have been exhausted.
9
Language and Accessibility
Every surrogate and donor has the right to understand every document she signs and every medical risk she accepts. KinPath ensures that all contracts are available in the surrogate’s preferred language, that medical risks are explained in a language she fully understands, and that support and coordination are offered in her language. No one is asked to sign something they have not fully understood.
10
Insurance Coverage
Before any medical treatment commences, KinPath ensures that every surrogate has in place adequate life insurance — with beneficiaries of her own choosing — and comprehensive medical insurance that remains active until she has fully recovered from delivery. This cover is maintained even where intended parents intend to meet all medical costs privately. Surrogates are expressly informed that they may seek emergency medical care at any location, without fear of consequence.
11
Direct Communication Between Intended Parents and Surrogates
The relationship between intended parents and their surrogate is one of the most meaningful aspects of the journey. KinPath does not act as a barrier to that relationship — we actively facilitate it.
We not only encourage direct communication between surrogates and intended parents; we require it. As a minimum, intended parents must communicate directly with their surrogate at least once per month throughout the journey. The purpose is human: to share appreciation, stay connected, and honour the commitment the surrogate is making on their behalf.
The method, frequency, and nature of additional communication is agreed between the parties before contracts are signed. There are no further restrictions beyond those the surrogate herself requests to protect her privacy and personal boundaries.
12
The Surrogate's Voice
Surrogates are the heart of what we do, and their experience deserves to be heard.
KinPath regularly produces short video interviews with surrogates in our programmes. In these videos, surrogates share their experience, their view of how the journey is developing, and their own perspective on what they are doing and why. Surrogates are welcomed and encouraged to share these videos on their own social media channels.
We do this because transparency is not only about documents and contracts. It is about the real people involved and their real stories. Giving surrogates a public voice is one of the clearest signals we can send that we respect and trust the women who make our programmes possible.
13
The KinPath Mobile Application
KinPath is proud to offer what we believe to be the first comprehensive mobile application designed specifically for the international surrogacy journey. The app is central to how we deliver our transparency commitments.
Through the app, intended parents, surrogates, and egg donors can:
- Communicate directly with their assigned KinPath case manager.
- Access all programme documentation in one secure place.
- Receive real-time status updates at each stage of the journey.
- View payment histories and forthcoming payment schedules (see Principle 7).
The app replaces the opacity of disconnected email chains and verbal updates with a shared, documented, always-accessible record of the entire journey. Every party has the same information at the same time.
14
The Surrogate's Right to Meet the Child
Regardless of the nature of the ongoing relationship between the parties after birth, every surrogate has the absolute right to see and hold the child she carried, immediately after delivery. This is a non-negotiable principle at KinPath.
15
Accommodation and Relocation
A surrogate’s participation in a KinPath programme is never contingent on her willingness to relocate or leave her home environment. Where travel is necessary and agreed by all parties, KinPath ensures she retains access to her family and social support networks. We do not facilitate surrogate travel for the purpose of circumventing local laws or securing a more favourable legal outcome for intended parents.
16
Licensing, Competency and Legal Compliance
KinPath operates licensed entities in Estonia, Hong Kong, the United States, Mexico, Ghana, and Thailand. We maintain — or facilitate access to — expertise in the medical, legal, and logistical dimensions of international surrogacy in every jurisdiction where we operate.
We comply fully with all applicable local laws and regulations. We do not advise intended parents to take any action designed to circumvent legal requirements, in any country, under any circumstances.
A Final Word
We publish these principles because we want to be held to them. If you are an intended parent evaluating agencies, we encourage you to ask every agency on your list whether they can say the same. If you are a surrogate or donor considering a KinPath programme, we invite you to share any of these principles with your own legal or medical adviser.
Ethical surrogacy is not a marketing claim. It is a daily practice. These are ours.