The Stork’s Nest Surrogacy Agency

We don’t write this lightly but after a year+ of trying to resolve things privately we feel we have no choice but to share our experience in hopes of helping others avoid the same painful experience. Our journey with Stork’s Nest started with hope—but it quickly turned south when communication broke down, unexpected fees appeared, and we encountered serious concerns around ethics and accountability. At first, things seemed okay but when we started asking reasonable questions—like why we were being charged medical screening fees by both the agency and our clinic—things began to unravel. Despite promises, we had to manage many key legal and medical steps ourselves. We declined to use Stork Nest’s owner's law firm to draft our gestational surrogacy agreement due to a conflict of interest (which their own contract advises against) and feel this decision may have contributed to how we were treated. After legal agreements were signed, it took over a month to be introduced to our gestational carrier (GC) as the agency agreement prohibits direct contact. Then, just days after the GC was medically cleared and less than two weeks before embryo transfer, the agency abruptly terminated our agreement—without meaningful explanation. It felt like instead of working through our concerns Stork’s Nest simply discarded us and moved forward with another set of intended parents. We later discovered that escrow funds had been approved for expenses we believe violated our agreement. When we raised these issues with both Stork’s Nest and their escrow partner, SeedTrust Escrow, we received no accountability. We requested a stop payment on our agency fees because our agreement was terminated with less than 48 hours of being officially cleared to start the embryo transfer. $8,000 has been withheld since May 2024 unless we sign a separation agreement we feel is coercive and potentially exposes us to further risk. Even more troubling, the escrow company is named in that agreement—despite claiming to be a neutral third party. We’ve attempted mediation, Seeds Ethics has refused to investigate their member Agency yet all has failed because Storks Nest simply refuses to do the right thing and give us our money back. We never wanted to share our story publicly but being pressured to stay silent in exchange for money we believe was never rightfully earned by Storks Nest is something we can’t accept. Intended parents deserve compassion, transparency and protection. Sadly, that’s not what we experienced. Surrogacy in Indiana is unregulated; meaning your gestational surrogacy agreement is as meaningful as a handshake and IPs have little recourse if something goes wrong. We urge others to ask hard questions, read Indiana laws for themselves and get independent legal advice. We wish someone had warned us. If Stork’s Nest believes anything is inaccurate, they’re welcome to respond—we stand by every word and have documentation.

Amanda is just simply amazing. She advocates for the surrogate and intended parents equally. It is not just a transaction for a business, she actually cares about you as a person. If you’re looking for an agency, you’ve found it!

I don't know that there are enough positive words in the English language to describe Amanda/The Stork's Nest. From my very first email from Amanda until the day that I delivered my first surrobabe (and beyond), she was nothing but positive, always available, and most importantly, genuine. She is, by far, one of the most genuine people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting/working with and it is very apparent just how invested she is in doing everything she can to turn dreams into reality. Amanda was extremely involved in the entire process and made sure that the process went as smoothly as possible (and in my case, it truly could not have gone any smoother!). It is clear that she has the knowledge and experience to handle whatever is thrown at her (even if it meant taking a phone call the day after she delivered her own baby). Amanda is one of the biggest reasons that I would consider doing another journey. Not only did she make sure that all of the necessities were taken care of, she was able to add a personal touch to help make it memorable. I could not have asked for a better person to see me through this process!

We had a wonderful experience with the Stork's Nest Agency and the kind woman who runs it, Amanda Sapp. When we first found Amanda, we knew nothing about surrogacy, which was our only choice for having a second child. She walked us through the process step by step and made the whole experience so easy and comfortable. She is an attorney as well as a nurse, and is perfect for this type of job. The nursing side of her definitely showed itself to us, as she delicately explained everything the surrogate has to undergo to qualify for surrogacy. She then explained in detail how the contracts work and made all of it so easy to understand. She matched us with the perfect surrogate, with whom we still communicate and we now have a beautiful little boy. I would recommend this experience to anyone who cannot carry a child and I would go with The Stork's Nest Agency and Amanda 100% of the time. She was absolutely fantastic!

Amanda is one of the most personable women I've ever met. Not only is her knowledge in the field abundant, her passion to help others is so inspiring.