Surrogacy agency for Chicago's North Shore and western suburbs

Is there a surrogacy agency in Evanston, Skokie or Glenview?

No. None of the North Shore or western suburbs has a surrogacy agency of its own. Families in Evanston, Skokie, Glenview, Deerfield, Highland Park, Wilmette, Winnetka, Lake Forest and Oak Park work with a Chicago-area agency, and do their medical appointments at a fertility clinic they can reach.

Private Label Surrogacy serves all of these suburbs from one office: 1721 Mission Hills Road, Unit 406, Northbrook, IL 60062. PLS has no satellite offices. It does not need them, because most of a surrogacy journey happens at the fertility clinic, by phone and by video, not at the agency.

This page is written by Jenni Symons, a PLS case manager who has been a surrogate twice, delivering in 2019 and 2021. Case managers at PLS carry the active matches, and both of them have carried pregnancies for other families. For a suburban surrogate, the practical questions are where she will go for appointments, who pays for what, and who she can call when something comes up late at night. For suburban intended parents, they are what the journey costs, where the money sits and how long it takes. The sections below answer both, suburb by suburb where it matters.

How far is the PLS office from each North Shore suburb?

You rarely need to make the drive. Intended parents often come to Northbrook for a first consultation, and some never do: video works just as well. Surrogates apply online and meet their case manager by phone or video.

Where do suburban surrogates go for monitoring appointments?

Monitoring means the bloodwork and ultrasounds that track how a surrogate's body responds to medications before transfer, and how the early pregnancy is developing after it. These appointments can be frequent, so they happen at a clinic near home, not at the intended parents' clinic.

PLS works with 14 partner fertility centers, including Kindbody, Shady Grove Fertility, Fertility Centers of Illinois and Oregon Reproductive Medicine. Partner clinics with North Shore and western-suburb locations include Fertility Centers of Illinois and Kindbody. A suburban surrogate usually does her monitoring at whichever location is most convenient for her, and the results go to the intended parents' clinic.

The embryo transfer itself happens at the intended parents' clinic, which may be in Chicago or another state. PLS covers the surrogate's travel for screening and transfer. After the clinic releases her to her own OB, her care continues close to home.

For a surrogate, that usually means a short drive before work or school drop-off rather than a trip downtown. Her case manager helps her plan the calendar around her own family, and the clinic sends results straight to the intended parents' care team.

Local monitoring visits are billed by the nearby clinic as part of the third-party costs, which total $15,300 to $29,000 across a PLS journey.

Which hospitals do North Shore surrogates deliver at?

Any hospital with an obstetrics unit can handle a surrogate delivery. The surrogate chooses the hospital with her OB, usually close to home. The choice is hers and her doctor's, made on medical grounds and convenience.

What PLS does is prepare the hospital. Before the due date, the agency coordinates the birth plan and the legal paperwork with the hospital, so the labor and delivery staff know who the intended parents are, who will be in the room, and how the baby will be discharged. In Illinois, the parentage certification filed by both attorneys before birth means the intended parents are named on the original birth certificate.

Nancy Block, RN, who founded PLS, spent 17 years as an OB/GYN and fertility nurse and staff educator at Northwestern Memorial Hospital's Prentice Women's Pavilion. That experience shapes how PLS writes birth plans: specific, agreed in advance, and shared with the hospital early.

What do intended parents in the western suburbs need to know about cost and escrow?

Intended parents from Oak Park and the western suburbs budget the same as anyone else: $150,000 to $210,000 all in, including clinic fees and insurance. Itemized, a PLS journey runs about $131,000 to $155,000 before clinic fees and any new surrogate insurance.

The main pieces:

• Program fee. $47,500. It is paid $22,500 at signing, $20,000 at surrogate acceptance and $5,000 at medical clearance.
• Surrogate compensation package. Typically roughly $68,000 to $78,000 for a first-time surrogate.
• Third-party costs. $15,300 to $29,000 for attorneys, escrow administration, the psychological evaluation, background checks, insurance review, travel and monitoring.
• Surrogate health insurance, if her plan excludes surrogacy. $5,000 to $40,000.
• IVF and clinic fees, paid directly to your clinic.

All surrogate compensation and third-party payments run through an independent licensed escrow agent, not the agency. You fund $10,000 at match and the balance before medications start, and you can choose your own escrow company. PLS never holds client money. See escrow.

How to apply as a surrogate from the suburbs

Where you live in Illinois does not affect eligibility or compensation. A surrogate in Naperville or Schaumburg applies the same way as one in Evanston. You must be:

• 21 to 43
• A US citizen or permanent resident
• At a BMI under 33
• Someone who has had at least one healthy full-term pregnancy and is raising a child now
• A non-smoker, not on government assistance, and living in a stable home
• Not currently taking antidepressants

The steps: a short online prescreen, the full application, an interview with a case manager, a records review by Mark Silverberg, DDS, MD, a background check, an insurance review, a psychological evaluation by an independent licensed professional, and medical screening at the intended parents' clinic. From application to match averages about 6 months.

First-time base compensation is $60,000 (proposed), within a typical total package of roughly $68,000 to $78,000. Read how to become a surrogate in Illinois, or see the Northbrook office page if you would like to visit first.