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| Past donors |
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| Donors
sharing information |
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Over the years the DCSG has
had many calls from past donors. Most of them ask the
question, “Can I find out the results of my donations?”
The answer to this question will vary. First of all
if you donated many years ago the clinic may no longer
have the records. Secondly each clinic has its own policy
of what information they will release but most clinics
will be happy to give you some information.
We would suggest that the best person to contact at
your clinic would be the counsellor or the nurse in
charge of the donor programme. The following questions
may help when you talk to the clinic: |
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We would suggest that the best person to contact at
your clinic would be the counsellor or the nurse in
charge of the donor programme. The following questions
may help when you talk to the clinic: |
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- Can you tell me the numbers of children born from
my donations?
- Can you tell me what the sexes are and in what
year they were born?
- Can you tell me what information you give to recipient
parents about me?
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| In the past most recipient
parents were only given a very small amount of information
about donors such as height, weight, eye/hair colour
and build. Some clinics may have also added some or
all of the following: age, marital status, religion,
education, career, hobbies and ethnicity. More recently
the information given has expanded and may also include
something written by the donor about him or herself. |
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If you are interested in
giving more information about yourself this would be
very much welcomed by recipient parents and offspring.
If you donated some time ago expanding the information
about yourself to include the things that we have listed
about would be great. Also an updated medical history
of yourself and your parents would be very useful for
recipient families. Some clinics suggest that donors
write a letter about themselves that can be put in their
file so that if any parents or offspring (if old enough)
enquire about you a copy of this letter can be given
to them. You could also include some photos of yourself.
In the case of records being lost or destroyed, some
clinics are encouraging donors and offspring to leave
a DNA sample on file in order to cross match.
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| Legislation & Registers |
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Some states of Australia now have Registers which keep records of Donor & births so that in future donor conceived people can access information. They also have voluntary regsiters where donors who donated in the past can leave information about themselves. Donor conceived people may also leave information on these Registers. If donors & offspring are matched they are able to share information with each other.
For more information about legislation & Registers in those states that have Registers please contact:
NSW The NSW Registers (02) 9424 5955 & 9424 5953
VIC Victorian Assisted Reproductive Treatment Authority (03) 8601 5250
WA Reproductive Technology Council (08) 9323 6642
For more information about legislation & Registers in those states that do not have Registers please contact:
ACT Minister for Health (02) 6205 0840
NT Minister for Health (08) 8901 4161
QLD Minister for Health (07) 3234 1191
SA SA Council on Reproductive Technologies (08) 8226 6048
TAS Minister for Health (03) 6233 6752 |
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| If you are interested in
contact with recipient families or offspring we would
also suggest that you contact the clinic counsellor to discuss
this. There have been a number of donors in Australia
who have had contact with recipient families either
by mail or in person and we feel that it will become
more common in the future. |
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I've now been in hospital twice to donate to
a couple and on the second try they conceived and
are now about seven months pregnant. I already know
a little bit about them and they know a bit about
me. Hopefully in future we'll be able to swap letters
or photos and maybe one day our families can meet.
(Lynda)
I'd be open to not just meeting them (offspring)
but a lot more if there was an opening. I didn't
think much about relations when I was a lot younger;
you choose your friends and not your relations,
but as I got older I changed a bit. Previously I
had never thought that the possibility could arise
of any chance of meeting them but there is some
chance, but not a great one. For myself though I'm
willing to take risks in life and I have no problem
about meeting new people. (Ian)
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| If you would like to talk
more about information sharing with someone at the DCSG
please do not hesitate to contact us. Also the Donor
Conception Support Group can provide you with the clinic
counsellors name and phone numbers. |
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