Contact among families who share the same sperm donor

Objective

To examine the experience of contact among families who share the same sperm donor and the purpose served by contact.

Design

Study 1: retrospective survey; study 2: archival data analysis.

Setting

Donor insemination (DI) program.

Patient(s)

Study 1: 14 parents from the first cohort of matched families; study 2: Archival data about 515 families from the DI program.

Intervention(s)

Study 1: Interview of parents via anonymous mail-back survey; study 2: none.

Main Outcome Measure(s)

Study 1: Survey questions focused on the family, contact experience, and relationship to the matched family. Study 2: Comparison of families in the matching service to DI program families on family structure, parity, and type of donor (anonymous or open-identity).

Result(s)

Study 1: Single women and lesbian couples headed most families. Parents reported positive experiences with contact. Reasons for contact focused on creating family for the child and addressing questions about the donor. Study 2: Families with open-identity donors and those headed by single women were overrepresented in the matching service; heterosexual couple-headed families were underrepresented.

Conclusion(s)

Findings indicate positive outcomes for contact among families who share the same donor. Contact appears to serve the purpose of creating extended family for the child and may also help answer questions about the donor.

Key Words: Open-identity sperm donor, donor insemination, gamete donation, alternative families, half-siblings, genetic sibling matching, donor-linked families, disclosure