Female-partnered women conceiving kinship: Does sharing a sperm donor mean we are family?

ABSTRACT

This qualitative study explored how 36 initially female-partnered mothers defined their own, and their children's, relationships with families who share their unknown sperm donor (i.e., “linked” families). Shared genetics among children were sometimes sufficient to describe relationships among linked families as familial, especially from the children's perspectives. Most women described their own relationships with linked families as significant but not necessarily in traditional family terms. Family terms were sometimes seen as undermining ties to siblings and genetically unrelated mothers. As shared experiences have come to define “chosen family,” definitions of significant relationships must expand to include those defined by shared genetics alone.

KEYWORDS:

• Donor insemination
• donor-linked families
• female-partnered
• kinship
• lesbian

Notes on contributors

Abbie E. Goldberg is an Associate Professor in psychology at Clark University. Her research focuses on diverse families, including families formed through adoption and reproductive technologies.

Joanna E. Scheib is an Associate Adjunct Professor in psychology at the University of California, Davis and Research Director at The Sperm Bank of California. Her research focuses on family-building through donor conception.