Do kids think of sperm donors as family?

Many children’s books have been written specially to address the topic of donor conception with a young child. This book tells the true story of two male penguins at the Central Park Zoo who were a little different from the other penguins but had the same wish: to have their very own baby penguin. Thanks to a zookeeper who gave them an egg that would otherwise be abandoned, their wish came true. An interesting fact is that this heartwarming story has been banned from several libraries, showing just how difficult it is for people to accept that we are all different and that all families are made in their own special way.

Like Father, Like Son is a 2013 Japanese film directed by Hirokazu Koreeda. It received several nominations and awards. The story is not about donor conception but about babies that were switched at birth and how their parents deal with that news after six years. The film touches upon topics as ‘nature-nurture’, the meaning of (not) having a genetic link with your child, the nature of parental love and many of the other questions that many people may ask in relation to donor conception. Topics, also, that all parents may be wondering about.

The website of our research team at Ghent University offers a list of publications on a broad range of topics related to donor conception. Apart from the topics addressed in the talk, questions are asked and answered about for instance the views receivers of donor gametes are about payment for donor sperm or donor eggs, the couple relationship of parents of which one parent is not genetically related to their child, the responsibilities of professionals (e.g. related to the directive or non-directive counselling of professionals), etc. Listed below are some of the papers related to the content of the talk.

Van Parys, H., Provoost, V., Wyverkens, E., De Sutter, P., Pennings, G., & Buysse, A. (2015). Family communication about the donor conception: A multi-perspective qualitative study with lesbian parents and their children. Qualitative Health Research, in press.

Wyverkens, E., Provoost, V., Ravelingien, A., De Sutter, P., Pennings, G., & Buysse, A. (2015). The meaning of the sperm donor for heterosexual couples: confirming the position of the father. Family Process, in press.

Wyverkens, E., Provoost, V., Ravelingien, A., De Sutter, P., Pennings, G., & Buysse, A. (2014). Beyond sperm cells. A qualitative study on constructed meanings of the sperm donor in lesbian families. Human Reproduction, 29(6), 1248-1254.

Raes, I., Van Parys, H., Provoost, V., Buysse, A., De Sutter, P., & Pennings, G. (2015). Two mothers and a donor: Exploration of children's family concepts in lesbian households. Facts, Views and Vision in ObGyn, 7(2), 83-90.