Meet Our Mentors

GWK Academy Mentorship Program

By joining the GWK Academy, you don’t just have access to us, you also have access to other dads through surrogacy, adoption or foster to adopt. And they want to help you! From surrogacy journeys to adoption stories to foster families, find a family that is ready and excited to provide you with insight and guidance.

Enroll in the GWK Academy today and we’ll connect you with any of these dads below.

Meet our mentors

Spencer and Daniel

Surrogacy and IVF

Dallas, Texas

Available for: [Video Chats, Emails, Calls, Texts]

Spencer and Daniel

These dads have experienced two different surrogacy journeys (2020 and 2022), both using Spencer's sperm and Daniel's sister's eggs. Their advice to future dads is to do your research, specifically on the team that you choose to help you become fathers.

Family-Building Partners: Simple Surrogacy and Fertility Specialists of Texas.

Tom and Elliott

Domestic Infant Adoption

New Jersey

Available for: [Calls, Emails, Texts]

Tom and Elliott

These dads have experienced two different open adoption journeys and are now the proud dads to two daughters. Theirs is a transracial family and they are in contact with the bio moms in addition to the extended family of our oldest (which includes her biological sister).

Tom and Elliott worked with Baby Step Adoption for their first journey, and Adoptions from the Heart for their second.

Doug and Brent

Atlanta, Georgia

Available for: [Video Chats, Emails, Calls, Texts]

Doug and Brent

Doug and Brent have two sons through open adoption, but experienced two very different adoption timelines. They were matched with their eldest son's birth mom when she was just 5 weeks pregnant and only connected with their youngest son's birth mom a few weeks before she gave birth.

Doug is an adoption advocate, and is the President of the Georgia chapter of Gift of Adoption. He and Brent worked with Adoption Information Services (AIS) to grow their family.

Alo and Javi

International Surrogacy

Barcelona, Spain

Available for: [Emails, Video Chats, Texts]

Alo and Javi

Alo, originally from Mexico, and Javi, born in Argentina, are proud dads to their daughter who was born through surrogacy in America in 2021. The family worked with Illume Fertility and Circle Surrogacy and live in Barcelona, Spain.

Colin and Patrick

Surrogacy and IVF

West Palm Beach, Florida

Available for: [Calls, Emails, Texts]

Colin and Patrick

Colin and Patrick started their surrogacy journey in 2017 but ran into several hurdles including no viable embryos and a surrogate who backed out. After changing clinics, creating new embryos, and having a friend offer to be their surrogate, they became dads to son Chess in 2019.

The dads worked with Boca Fertility.

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Tarik and Jeff

Foster to adopt

New York

Available for: [Emails, Texts, Calls]

Tarik and Jeff

Tarik and Jeff have two children via foster-adopt. Their daughter came to them at just 3 weeks of age through the foster system, and her adoption was finalized 18 months later. Their son joined their family in 2020 and his adoption was finalized in 2021.

Johnny and Sebastian

Surrogacy and IVF

NYC, New York

Available for: [Calls, Texts, Emails]

Johnny and Sebastian

Johnny and Sebastian are dads to two boys born in 2018 and 2020 with the help of Simple Surrogacy. During their first journey they worked with three different egg donors and two surrogates before getting pregnant.

Craig

Domestic Infant Adoption

Columbus, Ohio

Available for: [Calls, Emails, Texts]

Craig

Craig and his then-husband Joel worked with HRC-accredited Choice Network as their adoption agency. They matched with their daughter' birth mother when she was 14 weeks pregnant, and in 2017 daughter Izzy was born. They maintain an open adoption relationship with the birth family. The former couple share custody of Izzy and have a wonderful co-parenting relationship.

Carlos and Patrick

Surrogacy and IVF

Seabrook, New Hampshire

Available for: [Calls, Emails, Texts]

Carlos and Patrick

Carlos and Patrick have been together for seven years and married for two. They started their journey to fatherhood in February of 2020 with Dr Mark Leondires of Illume Fertility (formerly RMACT) and Circle Surrogacy. Their daughter was born in November 2021.

Roberto

Surrogacy and IVF

Fort Lee, New Jersey

Available for: [Calls, Texts, Emails, Video Chats]

Roberto

After a long-term relationship ended, Roberto realized he still wanted to have what he'd envisioned for his future: fatherhood. Thanks to a phenomenal egg donor and an amazing surrogate, he was able to make his dream a reality with the arrival of his daughter Amina in 2019.

Roberto worked with surrogacy agency A Woman's Gift in NJ, and Dr. Laura Meyer of Illume Fertility.

Matthew and Barry

Domestic Infant Adoption

Queens, New York

Available for: [Calls, Texts, Emails]

Matthew and Barry

Matthew and Barry live in Queens, New York. They are proud dads to Abigail. They connected with Abby's birth mother on social media and decided to go the private adoption route, working with a lawyer to facilitate their adoption. This family loves everything Disney!

Michael and Seth

Surrogacy and IVF

Melrose, Massachusetts

Available for: [Calls, Emails, Video Chats, Texts]

Michael and Seth

Michael and Seth have a 3.5-year-old daughter through surrogacy and are expecting their second daughter in September 2022, also via surrogacy.

They worked with Circle Surrogacy and Boston IVF, and Michael works in child development at Boston Children’s.

Steven

Foster to adopt

Los Angeles, California

Available for: [Calls, Emails, Video Chats]

Steven

Steven is a single dad through fostering to adopt. He had three infants placed in his care, but sadly they did not stay long term. With the heartache that brought, Steven almost stopped his journey to fatherhood. But in 2018, his son was placed with him and he adopted him 17 months later.

Steven worked with Extraordinary Families.

Felix and Matthew

Surrogacy and IVF

NYC, New York

Available for: [Texts, Calls, Emails, Video Chats]

Felix and Matthew

Matthew and Felix became dads in 2021. Matthew is a designer, and Felix is an OBGYN making him familiar with the egg retrieval and embryo creation process. The husbands only had one normal embryo for their transfer but took a leap of faith, and were successful, welcoming a daughter! They have started a sibling journey.

Matthew and Felix worked with Circle Surrogacy.

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Eric and Cliff

Surrogacy and IVF

Tustin, California

Available for: [Calls, Emails, Video Chats, Texts]

Eric and Cliff

Eric and Cliff became dads in April 2022 with the help of Same Love Surrogacy and SD Fertility. Their advice to dads-to-be is to speak to multiple agencies and to go with your gut feeling. And to always treat your surrogate with kindness, respect, and support.

James

Foster to adopt

Clarksburg, West Virginia

Available for: [Calls, Texts]

James

James was single when he first fostered and then adopted his eldest son 6 years ago. Since then, he's met the love of his life and they're working together on building their family. They have a younger foster son whom they hope to adopt by fall 2022. James's sons were fostered from 8 months to over two years before their adoptions were (or will be) finalized.

Josh and Ryan

Domestic Infant Adoption

Glendale, California

Available for: [Calls, Texts, Emails, Video Chats]

Josh and Ryan

Josh and Ryan are the fathers of two smart and funny girls through private infant domestic adoption. When they met with the girls' birth mother, they knew right away that there was a connection. After their oldest was born in 2017, 10 months later they learned that another baby was on the way and they were blessed to be asked to be the parents. They are a transracial family and continue to utilize the services offered by their wonderful agency, Vista Del Mar.

Jamie and Kenny

International Surrogacy

London, UK

Available for: [Calls, Texts, Emails, Video Chats]

Jamie and Kenny

Jamie and Kenny have been a couple for nearly 30 years. Their personal circumstances — Americans living in the United Kingdom — made adoption extremely complicated. Surrogacy then became the preferred way of creating a family. The couple became dads to twins through international surrogacy in 2016.

Sean

Domestic Infant Adoption

San Marcos, Texas

Available for: [Calls, Texts, Emails]

Sean

Sean is the head volleyball coach at Texas State, and single dad to his son through open adoption. Sean worked with Choice Network to become a dad, and they helped nurture his relationship with his son's birth family. “I care about my son’s first parents and his biological siblings. Choice Network helped me establish a healthy relationship."

Julien

Surrogacy and IVF

Brooklyn, New York

Available for: [Emails, Calls, Texts, Video Chats]

Julien

Julien, originally from France, is a single dad living in Brooklyn. Julien always knew he wanted to be a dad. After experiencing one failed embryo transfer, Julien decided to postpone his journey. Then the pandemic pushed his timeline even further. Thankfully Julien became pregnant on the second transfer and welcomed a daughter in February 2021.

Julien worked with Dr. Mark Leondires of Illume Fertility.

Jeff and Thom

Independent Infant Adoption

Los Angeles, California

Available for: [Calls, Texts, Emails, Video Chats]

Jeff and Thom

Husbands Jeff and Thom spent the first 10 years of their relationship preparing to become dads. Jeff is adopted, and through his own very positive and healthy adoption experience—he is excited to provide the same love and comfort to a child that he received from his adopted family. After completing their home study and retaining their lawyer, they were matched with a birth mom rather quickly. Nine weeks later, they were dads.

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Christopher and Patrick

Foster to adopt

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Available for: [Calls, Emails, Video Chats]

Christopher and Patrick

Christopher and Patrick adopted their two children through the foster care system in Washington state. Their daughter was placed with them as an infant in 2003, and her adoption was finalized almost two years later. Their son was placed with them at 16 months in early 2007, and the finalization came later that year. Both children have contact with members of their respective birth families. The dads worked with family-building partner Amara, and you can read their story here.

Alban and Richard

International Adoption

Washington, DC

Available for: [Calls, Emails, Video Calls, Texts]

Alban and Richard

(English and Spanish speaking) Alban & Richard decided to take the international adoption route and brought their children home to Washington, D.C., from Colombia in the summer of 2022. They started their process by hosting a child for 10 weeks through an international organization. They are now the proud dads of a sibling set of two teenage boys and are passionate about helping other families who are considering adopting older children.

Blake and Elliot

Domestic Infant Adoption

Brooklyn, New York

Available for: [Emails, Calls]

Blake and Elliot

Blake and Elliot live in Brooklyn with their son Indigo. They connected with their birth mother three weeks before she was due and have created a special bond in their open adoption. They love the beach and try to spend as much time in nature as possible! They partnered with Alliance for Children Adoption Agency to become parents.

Darnell and James

Independent Infant Adoption

Tampa, Florida

Available for: [Calls, Emails, Video Chats, Texts]

Darnell and James

Darnell (DJ) and James have been together for five years and married for a little over two years and reside in Tampa, Florida. They both always wanted to have kids and in October 2022 that dream came true when they welcomed a newborn daughter to their family via a private adoption facilitated by their attorney. They both work remotely (DJ as an attorney and James as a marketing manager) and love to travel and they cannot wait for the adventures that lay ahead.

Kevin & James

Domestic Infant Adoption

Los Angeles, California

Available for: [Emails, Calls, Video Calls]

Kevin and James

Kevin and James have been together for more than 20 years, adopting their now 12-year-old daughter at birth. They love being dads and want to help other families looking to adopt. Kevin and James hope to share their experiences, particularly their open adoption journey, working with Our Family Coalition, and the joys of having a family.

Justin & Didier

Surrogacy and IVF

Philly Area

Available for: [Emails, Text, Video Calls]

Justin & Didier

Didier and I have two kids via gestational surrogacy. Our daughter was born in 2020 and our son was born in 2022. Both children were conceived using the same egg donor, and we also were fortunate to have the same incredible surrogate carry both children. We have ongoing contact with both our surrogate as well as our egg donor.

Kameron & Edmund

Surrogacy & IVF

Illinois

Available for: [Emails, Calls, Video Calls]

Kameron & Edmund

Being biologically related to their children was very important to Kameron and Edmund so they chose to pursue surrogacy to become dads. Due to failed transfers, rematching with surrogates, and the pandemic, their journey took longer than most and the dads had to overcame many hurdles. They welcomed a daughter in April 2022. They worked with and highly recommend Family Source Consultants.

Jimmy and Jonathan

Surrogacy & IVF

San Diego, California

Available for: [Emails, Calls, Video Calls]

Jimmy and Jonathan

Jimmy and Jonathan have been together 20 years and in March 2023, they became first-time dads to twins through surrogacy. The couple live in San Diego, and worked with Dr. Park at San Diego Fertility Center.