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Anderson Cooper Talks About the Black Market Baby Scandal

October 26, 2011 By 6 Comments

This is not a new story since I’ve been reading about it since August, but this interview with scammed surrogate, Heather Albaugh gives some new insight to how it all happened.


It is still just really shocking to me that this occurred at all.  I’ve gotten over my surprise that my very own Attorney, Theresa Erickson was involved, but I still don’t understand how a surrogate could get herself into that predicament.

I have been asked many times by many people…”I want to be a surrogate, how do I start?“  I always send them to surrogacy message boards to start asking questions.  All any of these girls needed to do was ask the question, “gee…should I go overseas to get an embryo transfer without having intended parents?” and they would have gotten a resounding NO!

NO NO NO!!!!

I spent MONTHS trying to find the right IP’s.

Months.

The girl in the piece above is right about one thing…It is kind of like dating.  You place an ad.  But then you should exchange emails, pictures and family stories.  You talk and talk and then you decide if you want to help this family create a child.  It seems that she skipped this part.  This was the most important part for me.  Getting to know them.  I made friends for life during this “dating” period.

I feel so badly for the scammed surrogates, I really do.  But take this lesson if you are thinking of offering this amazing gift to someone else.  Do your homework.  Ask questions.  KNOW YOUR IP’S!!!

Filed Under: Surrogacy Tagged With: , ,
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When Surrogacy Lawyers Go Bad

August 10, 2011 By 21 Comments

Ya know, I’m not even sure how or where to start this post.  I have been reeling since last night with so many emotions.  I was happily watching America’s Got Talent when a commercial for the 11 o’clock news came on.  I wasn’t even paying that much attention but I hear “Prominent San Diego Attorney Guilty of Selling Babies .”

I glanced up and see MY surrogacy attorney on the TV.  Well that just has to be wrong, I misheard and Theresa must be consulting on the case or something.  I rewind.

Nope.  Not a mistake.  The attorney is Theresa Erickson.  My attorney for two surrogacy journeys plead guilty to selling babies.

OMGWTFBBQ??

I literally felt sick to my stomach.  This is a person I was friendly with.  She did all of my surrogacy contracts and my pre-birth orders.  She had agreed to write a guest post here on my blog (that never came to fruition) and I had hoped at one time to be a contributor to her Erickson Law Blog (no longer a live website).  She is my Facebook friend.  I adore and respect her Senior Paralegal who has helped me many times.  I admired and respected her and her position.  I really wanted to work for her agency helping other surrogates realize their dreams of helping parents create families.

Theresa was tall, beautiful and successful.  She helped many celebrities become parents (Elton John & Michael Jackson were named).  She was well respected in the Family Law and Surrogacy fields.  WHY would she jeopardize it all for this??

United States Attorney Laura E. Duffy announced today that Theresa Erickson entered a guilty plea before United States Magistrate Judge William McCurine, Jr., in which she admitted to being part of a baby-selling ring that deceived the Superior Court of California and prospective parents for unborn babies.  {Continue reading at FBI.gov}

We work really hard trying to show the world that surrogacy is beautiful.  Surrogacy is not a bunch of poor exploited women selling their babies to the highest bidder.  Surrogacy is an amazingly life-changing event and one of the things I am most proud of in my life.  For Theresa to just go along being greedy and tainting something that I love dearly makes me angry.

So VERY angry!

I think I am so sad because of the disappointment.  I trusted Theresa (like so many other surrogates and intended families).  I trusted her with my surro-babes.  I trusted that she was a good person.

I am so disappointed.

Please if you are reading this and you are not familiar with surrogacy, please don’t let this person taint your opinion.  Read through my good surrogacy stories.  Surrogacy is life changing and beautiful.  To see families where there was no hope for one before surrogacy is one of the most amazing things ever.  We are not a bunch of baby-selling greedy assholes like Theresa Erickson.

I found this article interesting about the whole thing if you want to read more.

 

 

 

Filed Under: Current Events, Surrogacy Tagged With:
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Time for Another Surrogacy

May 8, 2009 By Leave a Comment

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I delivered triplets in November 2007 as a gestational surrogate.  I’ve mentioned them occasionally here on my blog.  For a long time I had a page devoted to them.  When I turned into a “main-stream” mommy blog rather than just a “personal stories for my family” blog, I took their page down.

Since November of 2007, I’ve been putting all my energy into my own kids and trying to get healthy.  I’ve run into some roadblocks trying to gain approval for weight loss surgery.  So, I think I’m done with it.  Last night I decided to screw the surgery.  I can do this.  It’s very easy for me to lose weight.  It’s keeping it off that is the hard part.  But I’m going to devote the next couple months to losing about 50 pounds, all the while, I will begin my search for new intended parents.   Fifty pounds will put me at about the weight I was when I conceived the triplets.  It’s completely do-able.    I’m excited!

I plan on contacting my old RE (Reproductive Endocrinologist),  Brian Acacio.  He was AWESOME!  His office had called me about 1 year ago to ask if I had thought about doing another surrogacy.  They thought I was “so wonderful” and they wanted to work with me again.  Aw, shucks! :)   Also, my former attorney, Theresa Erickson runs an agency.  They had sent me some applications before but I never completed them.  I’m undecided on working with an agency or not, but will decide later.

Finding the perfect intended parents to work with can often be a long process and I’m happy to get started.  It’s so very rewarding.  The feelings of fostering life for another woman can’t be explained.  I’ll keep you posted as things develop!

Filed Under: Surrogacy Tagged With: , , , , ,