DCSG | Donor Identification

Donor Identification

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Donor Conception: Telling your child

The South Australian Council of Reproductive Technology have produced an information sheet on "Telling your child" about their donor conception.

Please click here to download the pdf document. Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

DONOR RECRUITMENT: CHANGE ATTITUDES, NOT THE LAW
http://www.bionews.org.uk/commentary.lasso?storyid=3225
A BioNews commentary by:
* Joanne Adams, Senior Andrologist, Manchester [UK] Fertility Services
* Dr Elizabeth Pease, Consultant in Reproductive Medicine, St Mary's
Hospital, Manchester [UK]
* Professor Brian Lieberman, Medical Director, Manchester Fertility Services
[UK]

In the late 1990's when removal of donor anonymity was first mooted in the
UK, many felt that it would herald the end of treatment with donor sperm.
Recruitment became more difficult and costly, and many potential donors were
discouraged by the lack of information and rumours that the change may be
retro-active. As a consequence donor numbers dropped precipitiously and
many of the smaller banks closed.

It was hardly surprising that when the law was changed and donor anonymity
removed, that the UK was left with few donor banks, unevenly distributed
across the the UK . From 1st April 2006 the stocks of frozen donor sperm from
anonymous men could only be used to create siblings for existing donor
conceived children.

In Manchester , we recognised that a new strategy would be necessary to
recruit men willing to be identified in the future by their genetic
offspring. Both Manchester Fertility Services (MFS), a fee paying centre and
the NHS DI service at St Mary's Hospital have successful donor recruitment
programmes.

At MFS more than 40 identifiable men are currently donating, and it is
anticipated that 50 will be donating by the end of the year. 11 donors have
been recruited so far within the NHS.

At MFS we anticipated a change in the law and from early 2004 were
pro-active and recruited only donors prepared to be identified, knowing that
it takes 9-12 months to have fully quarantined and ready to use donor sperm.
We also asked 10 of our most recently recruited anonymous donors if they
were prepared to convert to being identifiable and 4 agreed to do so, thus
becoming our first identifiable donors.

Recruitment was fairly slow at the beginning of 2004, with only 4-5 donors
recruited midway through the year. We reassessed our strategy. We were
advertising but had no idea which adverts were effective. We decided to log
all enquiries and audit which advertisements were most effective. We were
then able to perform a crude cost/benefit analysis. This strategy is still
used as we try different advertising methods, and enquiries are reviewed
periodically to assess the success of each method. The 'Big Issue' magazine
is the most successful, and currently responsible for approximately half of
our identifiable donors. We still recruit a handful of student donors by
advertising once a year during 'freshers week' in a student magazine. A
recent radio advertisement played over two weeks generated a lot of interest
but to date only 2 donors have been recruited via the air waves.

We regard donors as special people who need to be cherished. We deal with
each enquiry promptly and personally. Our secretarial staff ensure that each
and every enquiry is transferred to a specific member of our scientific
staff and if they are unavailable, a return call is made on the same day.
The change in law and the screening procedure are explained in reasonable
detail. Messages left on our answer-phone are personally and promptly
returned. Previously we just sent out an information pack in response to an
enquiry. This wasted a lot of time and most men did not respond. Having
spoken to us, the enquirers are much more likely to proceed. They are then
sent a sperm donation information pack that includes our own literature and
that produced by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, and our
own questionnaire, which they are asked to complete and return.

If the information provided on the questionnaire suggests that the applicant
is suitable, an appointment is made for a semen analysis and implications
counselling. The initial counselling is now carried out by a trained member
of the laboratory team and provides the opportunity to impart detailed
information about the donation process, the responsibilities of being a
donor as well as asking for more detailed information about the family
history and medical issues. It also provides the potential donor with the
opportunity to ask any questions. Introducing this step has meant that we
are able early on, to screen out the obviously unsuitable, and to initiate
investigations into some of the potential medical issues before an
appointment is made with a member of the medical staff. This has
consequently cut down on wasted appointments slots with the doctors. Two
consultants take a special interest in donor recruitment. Other simple
strategies have been employed such as reminding people of appointments,
following up those that did not attend and being flexible with appointment
times. All these tactics amount to nurturing the applicant through the
process and have collectively helped to increase our take on rate.

The profiles of identifiable donors, are different to previous donors. As
anticipated they are older, mostly in employment and quite often have
families of their own, compared with the younger, generally student,
anonymous donors. Gone are the days where sperm donation was regarded as
'beer money'. Nowadays we need to encourage men to come forward and commit
themselves to a lengthy but rewarding process. We must treat them with the
respect they deserve. The change in the law has been for the better and this
is recognised by the modern donor. This is self-evident from some of the
Goodwill Messages and Pen pictures on their registration forms. We certainly
do not have a shortage of potential donors in Manchester but donor
recruitment requires a dedicated team who recognise and support the wisdom
underlying the change in the law. Changing the law is not the answer, what
is necessary is a change in attitude of those who wish to provide donor
treatment with donated sperm.
'Should donors be identified?'
UK article sent by email from the Infertility Network

There are currently thousands of people who have no way of finding out their [genetic] parent's identity. They are the result of conception using donor sperm or eggs and it has been against the [UK] law to tell them who their biological parents are. Now the government is consulting on whether they should get any information and if so how much.

Adopted children [in the UK] were given the right retrospectively to discover their identity, even if their birth parents had wanted anonymity when they were adopted. Currently the government says this won't happen for donor children. But should it? The Human Rights Act might say so.

Should donor children born in the future be allowed to find out who their donor is, or just more non-identifying information? How do you balance the child's need to know and the donor's need for privacy? If there is full disclosure will anyone still choose to donate or will this sort of infertility treatment vanish?

Listen to this [excellent!] BBC radio program at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/news/thecommission_20020925.shtml

COMMISSIONERS
* Peter Stanford, Author, broadcaster & chairman of the national [UK] disability charity, ASPIRE.
* Ann Alexander, lawyer specializing in clinical negligence; represents individuals & campaigns for their rights in overturning decisions made by authorities.
* Courtenay Griffiths, lawyer specializing in criminal law, & civil actions against the police & inquests.

WITNESSES
* Vivienne Nathanson, Head of Ethics at the British Medical Association. (The BMA's ethics committee proposed to support the rights of donor children in receiving information. However, when this was proposed in their recent annual meeting, the members voted against it, maintaining the BMA's traditional position of anonymity.)

* David Gollancz, lawyer conceived through Donor Insemination who argues it is a human right to know your heritage. [NB. David is the 1/2 sibling via DI of Canadian filmmaker, Barry Stevens, whose film, "Offspring," about his search for his genetic family, has won a number of international awards.

Both Barry & David have spoken at seminars sponsored by the Infertility Network which are available on video tape. Contact Admin@InfertilityNetwork.org for details.

* Walter Merricks, Donor Conception Network (http://www.dcnetwork.org), a charitable foundation set up in 1993 to support families contemplating or undergoing gamete donation treatment, those with children who were created by donor egg/sperm/embryo, & individuals conceived in this way. (Approx imately 600 members)

* Francoise Shenfield, Medical Ethicist, consultant at London's Women's Clinic

* Baroness Mary Warnock, British philosopher & university administrator; a moral philosopher with a particular interest in educational matters, well known for her work on government bodies dealing with some of the most complex ethical issues of our time.