Family building in donor conception: parents’ experiences of sharing information

Abstract

This paper presents the findings of a qualitative investigation of the experience of parents in the UK who have built their families through donor conception and have told their children about their origins. Key themes identified in the study include parental motivation for disclosure, the relationship between telling the child and telling others, the importance of the ‘seed‐planting’ strategy for telling children, and ‘ownership’ of information about the child’s conception. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of the research findings for encouraging parental disclosure of donor conception as advocated in the UK’s Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008.

Keywords:

• assisted reproduction
• qualitative methods
• infertility
• psychosocial factors

Acknowledgement

This study was funded by a research grant from the School of Human and Health Sciences of the University of Huddersfield.

Notes

1. A commonly used story book for donor‐conceived children, written by parents of donor‐conceived children and marketed by DC Network (Infertility Research Trust, 1991).