Disclosure & Donor Conception

"There is no such thing as anonymity. In the age of 23 and Me and Ancestry.com, it is impossible to be anonymous. Donor conceived children will be able to find donor conceived siblings and donors if they wish. There is no question about this. It is also important to remember, that it is not possible to know how many times your donor donated. While guidelines have been established by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, there is no way to track donors. As a result, your child can have many more donor related siblings than you think… and you don’t want your child marrying any of them! The only way to guard against this and also to create an open and loving relationship with your child where they will feel good about themselves as donor conceived children, is to talk to them about their beginnings. In this short video, I will review some of the reasons why we (the professionals in reproductive medicine) advise parents disclose to their children and how to disclose.

After two decades as a licensed mental health professional, Director of the Center for Family Building, an author of several prize academic papers, a speaker at professional conferences and the Director of Mental Health Services for Reproductive Medicine Associates of Connecticut, I am able to share the best practices for disclosing to donor conceived children."