Voluntary Register for parent-to-parent and ‘sibling’-to-‘sibling’ contact and for donors willing to

14/07/2015

Voluntary Register for parent-to-parent and ‘sibling’-to-‘sibling’ contact and for donors willing to be identified

As a parent, have you ever wished for contact with parents who have used the same donor? Or for your children to grow up knowing their half-siblings?

 As a donor, do you have any interest in contact with the parents of the children conceived with your sperm or eggs? If so, please read on..........

Currently if a sperm, egg or embryo donor donates through a licensed UK clinic, then their details and those of any children conceived together with the details of the parents planning to raise that child are automatically kept on a national register by the HFEA (Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority). The only problem is that no-one can access identifiable information from that register except the ‘child’ and then not until they are 18. If the conception takes place outside of a UK licensed clinic, whether in the UK or overseas, then currently there is no official way of maintaining these details or making these details accessible to families with younger children.

Well, I’ve been meeting for some time with a group of people to try and get a Voluntary Register off the ground here in the UK. It will be hosted by the Donor Conception Network (DCN) but run separately. It will be open to both DCN members and non members and will operate to strict confidentiality rules. The group are still working on the technical details, but it is clear that there will need to be a charge for the service – perhaps a joining fee, an annual registration fee and/or a lifetime membership fee.

The group would be really interested to hear your views and suggestions. Would you be interested in registering? If so would you be prepared to pay for the service and if so what sort of amount and should it be annual, lifetime or...? What do you think the register’s key features should be? What are the pros and cons? I’d really like to hear your feedback, so contact Erika at info@prideangel.com and don’t forget to say what your involvement with donor conception is......

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