Until 2007, donor conception was a largely unregulated practice in Belgium. Most sperm donors from that era were anonymous. In order to participate in the survey, respondents had to be 18 years old, which means they would have been born prior to the change in law. Of the donor-conceived individuals who participated, 55.2% (n=112) were already registered in an international DNA database. Among those who were registered, 68.8% (n=77) had discovered second-degree relatives, and 30.4% (n=34) had located their donor, with 27.7% (n=31) of them identifying both.
Interesting, thanks. I guess we should assume those who already found info checked "Yes" in response to questions about whether they were interested in doing so, but it would have been nice to have that confirmed. (I clicked through and couldn't find anything about that.)
It also seems like they may have only asked the subset of people who registered for the database if they had found information. It would be nice to know if some participants obtained the information outside of the DNA database, in particular if the mother had the information and told them. (I don't know anything about Belgium, but in the US some lesbians were using known donors decades ago)
The average age of disclosure is so high for heterosexual couples, it's hard to draw any conclusions about the independent effect of family structure -- except in the sense that family structure predicts disclosure age, which has a big impact. Understandably. It's a totally different experience to assume someone is your biological father, and then learn otherwise as an adult.
It would be beneficial to have that Information, especially in light of the US longitudinal study of lesbian families showing that a sizable portion had known donors. I believe those studies show similar levels of (dis)interest in Information and connection though.
That’s interesting, because it’s counterintuitive to me. I would expect children of lesbians to have more interest in connecting with their donors, because it should be less fraught for the family. There’s no secrecy, and no male parent who might feel threatened or emasculated by the existence of the donor.
Plus, many known donors are friends of the moms, so the moms don’t have to worry that he might be a bad influence.
We’re lesbians with a known donor (open since birth) and it has always seemed straightforward and easy compared to what other families go through.
Did the study say whether any of the participants already had contact with the donor and/or information?
Asking whether the participants want information implies none of them have it already, so I’m curious how this was accounted for.
Until 2007, donor conception was a largely unregulated practice in Belgium. Most sperm donors from that era were anonymous. In order to participate in the survey, respondents had to be 18 years old, which means they would have been born prior to the change in law. Of the donor-conceived individuals who participated, 55.2% (n=112) were already registered in an international DNA database. Among those who were registered, 68.8% (n=77) had discovered second-degree relatives, and 30.4% (n=34) had located their donor, with 27.7% (n=31) of them identifying both.
Interesting, thanks. I guess we should assume those who already found info checked "Yes" in response to questions about whether they were interested in doing so, but it would have been nice to have that confirmed. (I clicked through and couldn't find anything about that.)
It also seems like they may have only asked the subset of people who registered for the database if they had found information. It would be nice to know if some participants obtained the information outside of the DNA database, in particular if the mother had the information and told them. (I don't know anything about Belgium, but in the US some lesbians were using known donors decades ago)
The average age of disclosure is so high for heterosexual couples, it's hard to draw any conclusions about the independent effect of family structure -- except in the sense that family structure predicts disclosure age, which has a big impact. Understandably. It's a totally different experience to assume someone is your biological father, and then learn otherwise as an adult.
It would be beneficial to have that Information, especially in light of the US longitudinal study of lesbian families showing that a sizable portion had known donors. I believe those studies show similar levels of (dis)interest in Information and connection though.
That’s interesting, because it’s counterintuitive to me. I would expect children of lesbians to have more interest in connecting with their donors, because it should be less fraught for the family. There’s no secrecy, and no male parent who might feel threatened or emasculated by the existence of the donor.
Plus, many known donors are friends of the moms, so the moms don’t have to worry that he might be a bad influence.
We’re lesbians with a known donor (open since birth) and it has always seemed straightforward and easy compared to what other families go through.