Embryo Adoption

A new path to growing
your family.

Compassionate, experienced care guiding you through every step of the embryo adoption journey.

Embryo Adoption

A new path to growing
your family.

Compassionate, experienced care guiding you through every step of the embryo adoption journey.

What is Embryo Adoption?

Thousands—possibly millions—of frozen embryos remain in storage across the United States, with estimates ranging from 600,000 to over 1.5 million. For many families, embryo adoption offers a meaningful opportunity to give these embryos a chance at life while helping others experience the joy of parenthood.

Couples who have completed their own fertility journeys may choose to donate their embryos to recipients who are ready to grow their families—creating a unique and life-giving connection.

How Does It Work

Your journey begins with a comprehensive medical evaluation to ensure embryo adoption is a safe and appropriate option. This can be completed at our Knoxville clinic or with a trusted fertility provider near your home.

Embryo transfers take place in Knoxville and are designed to be as convenient as possible. Most patients only need to stay for one to two days for treatment. For those pursuing a natural cycle frozen embryo transfer, a slightly longer stay may be recommended to allow for proper monitoring and optimal timing.

Why families choose Rejoice for embryo adoption

1. EXPERTISE

Our embryology team leads the field in thawing and caring for long-frozen embryos—even those preserved for decades. Our success includes the delivery of healthy twins from embryos stored for over 30 years.

2. EXPERIENCE

With hundreds of frozen embryo transfer cycles completed, our team brings deep experience and dedicated support to every patient pursuing embryo adoption.

3. EXCELLENCE

Every embryo is handled with the utmost care. In 2021, Rejoice Fertility became the first IVF program in the Greater Knoxville area accredited by The Joint Commission.

4. ENVIRONMENT

Our state-of-the-art IVF laboratory and clinical space was designed for your comfort—featuring private rooms for pre-transfer conversations with Dr. Gordon and our team.

5. EMPATHY

At Rejoice Fertility, we believe every embryo deserves the opportunity to become a healthy baby—and that begins by giving it a chance.

Affiliated Embryo Adoption Agencies

Store your donated embryos free of charge at RER or one of our affiliated embryo adoption agencies.

Frequently Asked Questions

Stimulated Cycle IVF can result in the production of 12-30 eggs or more in some patients. One of the unanticipated issues associated with traditional IVF has been the question of what to do with the extra embryos that are left stored frozen in liquid nitrogen once a couple believes that their family is complete. Some couples are willing to allow others to adopt these embryos.

Although many IVF clinics offer Embryo Adoption / Embryo Donation, none has the depth of experience found at Rejoice Fertility. Although there are over 200,000 IVF procedures performed in the United States every year there are fewer than 2000 cycles of Embryo Adoption performed yearly.

Success rates with Embryo Donation/Adoption are close to 50% per cycle.

Embryo adoption is complex because the embryo is legally considered “property” rather than a child under the law in most jurisdictions. Embryo adoption is not strictly an “adoption” because the legal definition of adoption refers to a child who is already born.

The proper terminology in TN is “embryo relinquishment and transfer of legal custodianship.” However, as we are helping put these unborn children into families, we are comfortable using the word ‘adoption’ throughout our literature and website.

The best candidates for EA are those couples where the wife has a normal uterus and no medical reason which could result in a lower chance of success such as the presence of a dilated, fluid-filled fallopian tube (hydrosalpinx).

Yes, there are both medical and non-medical restrictions.

Medical restrictions include no contraindication to pregnancy as well as screening criteria that address
a patient’s age, BMI and her ability to carry a pregnancy. Patients who are interested in pursuing
Embryo Adoption need to undergo some basic tests to determine if there are any issues that would
need to be addressed prior to undergoing a frozen embryo transfer with adopted embryos.

Medical clearance prior to Embryo Adoption is determined by the fertility physician at the clinic where
a patient plans to have her embryo transfer and usually involves a consultation to review a patient’s
medical/reproductive history, a pelvic ultrasound, an assessment of the inside of the uterus (saline
sonogram, hysteroscopy or hysterosalpingogram), and basic laboratory screening for general health
including evidence of STIs such as Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and HIV. Different clinics may have
different restrictions in terms of patient age, BMI and specific tests required to determine that a patient
is medically cleared for a frozen embryo transfer with adopted embryos. Patients who have had recent
fertility testing may not need to repeat ultrasounds or other testing to be medically cleared for Embryo
Adoption at Rejoice Fertility.

The non-medical restrictions are determined by the affiliated Embryo Adoption organizations. Rejoice
Fertility is a medical practice, and we rely upon our affiliated organizations to screen and educate
couples interested in Embryo Adoption separate from any medical evaluation.

Similarly, Rejoice Embryo Rescue (RER) is not an “adoption agency” but rather RER could be thought
of as the “orphanage” that coordinates receiving and storing of donated embryos. All adopting parents
must be approved through one of our affiliated faith-based Embryo Adoption organizations. These
affiliates have similar requirements to each other, and the most common requirements are:

  • Married heterosexual couple
  • Wife must be medically cleared to carry her own pregnancy (no surrogates/gestational carriers)
  • Wife’s age must be maximum of 48 years old
  • Wife & Husband must complete and get approval from a Home Evaluation or Home Study. If the evaluation was not performed by one of our affiliates, then you must have it updated/approved by one of them

Although Embryo Adoption is an excellent option for many couples, there are situations where a
woman is not a good candidate for Embryo Adoption.

For patients seeking to have their frozen embryo transfer at Rejoice Fertility here in Knoxville, the first
step is to have a consultation appointment (in person or virtual) to discuss your medical history and
interest in Embryo Adoption. Schedule a free 15- minute virtual consultation to find
out if Embryo Adoption may be a good option for you.

View an overview of the pricing for embryo adoption here.

View a full overview of the process here.

No. You can have those tests performed by a fertility clinic in your geographic region if that is more convenient. However, many patients prefer to have these tests done by Dr. Gordon in Knoxville.

Yes. BUT you need to have regular cycles and be willing to have closer monitoring during your cycle to ensure we do not miss ovulation.

Some patients do need to take Lupron but most do not and their cycles can be controlled by the use of oral contraceptives as needed.

No. The vast majority of patients respond predictably to estrogen pills (estrace). If you are in the small group of patients who require an atypical protocol then this can easily be employed in a future cycle.

Absolutely. Some patients have pursued EA because they feel called to adopt.

Some couples feel more comfortable with EA as opposed to the use of donor egg or donor sperm.

You can schedule an in-person or virtual consult with Dr. Gordon and then based upon that consultation you will need to have a few basic tests performed: A vaginal ultrasound, a saline sonogram to check the inside of the cavity, and a trial embryo transfer (also called a mock transfer).

Rejoice Embryo Rescue (RER) was created to coordinate the receipt and secure storage of human embryos awaiting adoption by couples pursuing a future frozen embryo transfer with these donated embryos. RER works collaboratively with its affiliated faith-based Embryo Adoption organizations to facilitate frozen embryo transfers of donated embryos either at Rejoice Fertility in Knoxville, TN (where we have significantly higher live birth rates from donated embryos per transfer than the rest of the nation) or at the clinic of your choice.

RER is supported by the embryology staff of Rejoice IVF Lab, LLC, who provide all needed embryology services such as receiving, shipping, handling and continued storage of embryos. Rejoice IVF Lab, LLC is accredited by The Joint Commission.

We are proud to have their Gold Seal of Approval. Rejoice Fertility, Rejoice IVF Lab, and Rejoice Embryo Rescue (RER) are all onsite together in the same building in Knoxville, TN.

Although IVF and embryo cryopreservation and transfer are areas in which legal principles and requirements have not been firmly established, the state of Tennessee has addressed some of the issues concerning Embryo Adoption. TN state code Ann. Section 36-2-401-403 (provide link) provides specific language and explains how the Legal Custodianship of frozen embryos can be transferred in the process of Embryo Adoption. So when you donate your embryos to RER, you will be transferring the Legal Custodianship of your embryos to RER in anticipation of another couple choosing your embryos. At that point RER will transfer the Legal Custodianship to the recipient couple.

They will remain as the Legal Custodians until the embryos are all given a chance at life or the couple elects to transfer Legal Custodianship back to RER. If your embryos have not been adopted and you no longer wish for your embryos to remain with RER as the Legal Custodians, then you can request that Legal Custodianship be transferred back to you.

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