Beginnings Family Services is committed to supporting birth parents, prospective adoptive parents, and participants in the Embryo Donor/Recipient Program through both traditional infant adoption and the Embryo Donor/Recipient Program, offering guidance, compassion, and care every step of the way.
The modern family structure can take many different forms, and so too can the ways in which a family is created. As Elaine Falzon, MSW, RSW, Embryo Donor/Recipient Program Manager at Beginnings Family Services, explains, “We help individuals and couples build their families through traditional adoption or embryo donation.” Beginnings Family Services is a non-profit organization dedicated to offering counselling, coordination and ongoing support.
The organization provides industry mandatory implications counselling for both donors and recipients of the Embryo Donor/Recipient Program, ensuring that all parties fully understand the emotional, legal, and ethical aspects of the process. Additionally, Beginnings Family Services coordinates extensively with fertility clinics to ensure that all clinic protocols are met, handles the logistics of embryo shipping, works with fertility clinic staff, and fertility lawyers to ensure all necessary legal agreements are in place.
Falzon emphasizes, “From the very start, we celebrate a child’s origins and make it a meaningful part of their story.” This approach highlights the importance of honouring each family’s unique journey and ensuring that all paths to parenthood are respected and supported.”
Beginnings Family Services is home to Canada’s first national mutual matching embryo donor/recipient program, a unique initiative that fills a gap with fertility options. “There are limited options for remaining embryos after Invitro Fertilization (IVF)—discarding, donating to research, or cryopreserving them indefinitely,” Falzon explains. “Our program offers a meaningful alternative.” At no cost, donors can altruistically donate their remaining embryos to a family through Beginnings Family Service Embryo Donor/Recipient Program. Instead of an anonymous match, donors and recipients engage in a mutual matching process, building a relationship based on a mutually agreed level of openness. Since its launch in 2010, the program has helped bring over 95 babies into families across Canada.
An Option to Stay Connected
What sets this program apart is its openness. Donors and recipients are not anonymous, through our program they choose to partner together and can build a relationship that reflects their shared values and comfort levels. “Through the mutual matching process we have, donors and recipients connect and create a relationship based on their mutually agreeable level of openness,” Falzon says.
Each step of the process complies with the Assisted Human Reproduction Act (AHRA), which is Canadian law. This ensures that both donors and recipients are safeguarded throughout their journey. From registration, counselling, to matching, every part of the process is designed to honour the future child’s story and the people who made it possible.
A Professional and Established System
In an age where social media is increasingly used to find embryo donor matches, Beginnings offers a trusted, professional alternative. “While social media may seem convenient, it’s not always reliable,” Falzon cautions. “We’re here to help people make informed decisions that work best for them.”
For individuals who have already found a potential match online, Beginnings offers a safe and structured pathway forward. The organization offers implications counselling, psychosocial reports of both donors and recipients, legal referrals, coordinates receipt of embryology and health reports for clinics and provides support to ensure that any embryo donation arrangement complies with the Assisted Human Reproduction Act (AHRA), the fertility clinics involved and protects the rights and well-being of all parties involved, including the future child. By stepping in with professional oversight, Beginnings helps transform informal connections into ethically sound, legally secure, and emotionally supported journeys to parenthood.
Assistance Along the Way
Support doesn’t end once the donation is complete. Participants are welcomed into a broader community of care, with access to additional services such as a peer led support group and ongoing counselling if needed. “We think about this process through the eyes of the donor conceived child and their family,” Falzon says.
Beginnings Family Services is an inclusive agency, offering services to all individuals regardless of background. “It’s about honouring how your beautiful family came to be,” Falzon adds. The program is not just about embryo donation; it’s about creating lasting connections and celebrating every family’s unique journey.
Every family begins with a story. Start yours today at beginnings.ca.
