Spring/Summer 2022 Newsletter
80,000 Members with 22,385 Matched!
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New Counseling Book
Published by Ethics Press, this guide will be of interest to therapists, counselors, psychologists, sociologists, physicians, and other mental health professionals who may encounter this topic in their specific settings with patients who have a variety of presenting problems, as well as professionals in the reproductive medicine industry.
A few people have asked if this guide would be helpful for donors, parents, or donor-conceived people. Yes! I wish someone would have given me this type of guide years ago so that I could have more context for the different ways that donors, parents, and donor-conceived people respond to so many different situations. Understanding the layers of emotional depth and the specific challenges that all stakeholders might face is very helpful when maneuvering through your own personal journey.
As the mother of a 3-time egg donor and a researcher in the field, I’ve had the opportunity to learn a great deal from Wendy Kramer. She is undoubtedly one of the most knowledgeable experts regarding all the emotional and practical issues that donor-conceived individuals, their families, and also the gamete donors and their families experience. After some 22 years of running what has become the world’s biggest online resource for connecting donor-conceived offspring with their half-siblings and with their egg or sperm donors, as well as her extensive actual experience counseling and supporting donor-conceived offspring and family members, and also her participation in research, she is the ideal person to share her clinical and research experience with others who counsel any of the complex group of people affected by donor conception. This practical, extensive, empathetic, and inclusive guide can be an essential resource for mental health professionals in counseling such individuals. I highly recommend it to all. —Jennifer P. Schneider, M.D., Ph.D
Counseling Webinars
We're so excited to begin presenting the material from the new book to psychology and counseling associations!
ARGENTINA
June 7th: Sociedad Argentina de Psicología en Reproducción Humana Asistida, Argentina: A conference for psychologists in training in assisted reproduction. A 1-hour webinar.
CANADA
August 16th: The Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association (CCPA)
Counselling Donor Family Members: A Webinar for Mental Health Professionals
Date/Time - August 16th 2022 from 12-3pm EDT
Presented by - Wendy Kramer, Online via Zoom
This 3-hour webinar will be available to watch on the CCPA website.
This event is approved for 3 Continuing Education Credits
On The Research Trail
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The Donor Sibling Registry regularly conducts research on all members of the donor family, including egg and sperm donors, bio and non-bio parents, donor-conceived people, and even donor grandparents. We've conducted and published dozens of papers in peer-reviewed academic journals.
2022 Attachment Research: Stay tuned for an upcoming donor-conceived people attachment research invite later this month! The purpose of this research is to investigate whether attachment style predicts feelings of betrayal and rejection in donor-conceived adults. A sample of approximately 200 participants will be recruited from the Donor-Sibling Registry (DSR) and asked to take part in a two-part study; they will first respond to demographic questions, perform a lie detection task, and complete a self-report measure of attachment. They will then be asked to complete a semi-structured interview asking them various questions about themselves, the discovery of their donor-conception, and their close relationships. It is the hope that the results of this study will provide insight into how we can improve the well-being of donor-conceived individuals and their families.
2021-2022: Egg Donor Research, a collaboration with the University of Illinois at Chicago Dept. of Population Health Nursing Science/ Dept. of Obstetrics & Gynecology
"The purpose of this dissertation study is to explore what medical and psychosocial problems oocyte donors have experienced post-initial donation and to understand if these women have disclosed to family, friends, or offspring. These findings will serve to illuminate foundational knowledge about areas for improving medical health and needed education and counseling for psychological well-being and disclosure for former and future oocyte donors. This study yielded 345 completed surveys and a paper is underway, "The Psychosocial and Physical Experiences of Egg Donors Across the Lifespan."
2021-2022: Donor-Conceived Adult Research, a collaboration with the University of Colorado School of Medicine, Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility Department: themes surrounding family building in donor-conceived offspring. This study yielded 529 completed surveys, papers are underway, and abstracts were presented at the October 2021 American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) Annual Scientific Congress: 1. Where are the donors: do donor-conceived people become donors themselves? 2. The age and by whom a donor-conceived person receives information significantly affects their experience. A paper has been submitted to Human Reproduction.
2022 Genetic Research: We have been asked to collaborate on a new research project: Reprogenetics in third-party pregnancies: exploring the views of gamete donors, clinicians, and recipient parents and factors affecting views and practice, with research partners in Israel and New York. If grant funding comes through, this will take place during the second half of 2022.
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This new blog on the Psychology Today website presents a great opportunity to introduce donor family issues to mental health professionals and to the general public.
- Donor families are unique in some ways yet also very common.
- Many donor family issues have not yet been properly addressed by the mental health community.
- It is important to create and support happy, healthy, and informed donor families.
- Terminology indicates how we define our relationships.
- Language in donor conception is always evolving.
- Listening to how donor-conceived people define their donor family relationships is crucial.
- The only-parent experience is frequently quite different from a single-parent experience.
- Sperm banks sell around 50% of their sperm to solo single women.
- Solo parenting is 24/7 and 365 days a year.
- There are some positives to being an only parent.
- What will the use of donor gametes mean to you, your family, and to your future child?
- Donor-conceived people desire to know about their ancestry, medical history, and close genetic relatives.
The bill prohibits gamete vendors in the state of Colorado, and out-of-state gamete vendors selling gametes to Colorado recipients from being permitted to facilitate an anonymous donation.
But....all sperm and eggs are sold as anonymous, be it for 18 years or forever. And anonymity can no longer be promised or mandated for 18 years. (This has been the case since 2005.) Why continue to perpetuate the deception of 18 years of anonymity?
And...nothing changes for the millions of donor-conceived people already born or for those who will be born in the next 3 years. We won’t know if anything has really changed until the year 2043 when the first affected donor children turn 18.
The bill states that any donor will be required to consent to the release of their medical history when any donor-conceived person, conceived using that donor’s gametes, reaches the age of 18.
But... since the advent of sperm banks, for many decades now, families have been receiving self-reported non-identifying medical information from donors on their donor profiles. This bill doesn’t mandate collecting, updating, or sharing new medical information with the families. So what changes?
The bill stops egg and sperm banks from permitting more than 25 family recipients for any given donor’s gametes. For counting purposes, the 25 families are based on “live births,” do not limit a family from additional siblings, and do not count family-to-family embryo donation.
But...how? You can’t set “limits” until there is accurate record keeping, which doesn’t exist and can not without mandatory birth reporting. Facilities do not know how many children are born from any one donor. Many egg and sperm donors donate to more than one clinic.
So who will mandate, oversee, or pay for the new accurate record-keeping?
The answer: no one.
Upcoming LGBTQ Outreach
June 2022: We will once again have a booth at the Boulder County Pride event in Colorado!
July: Lecture: The European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE): New Study of 529 Donor-Conceived Adults:Does how and when a donor-conceived person (DCP) learns about their conception significantly affect their experiences and choices, including whether they’d consider using a donor or donating their own gametes.
May: Infertility Unfiltered virtual meeting.
May: The Disclosure Experiences of Egg Donors Across the Lifespan. Research Abstract. Presented at the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) Conference.
March: Midwest Nursing Research Society (MNRS) Conference. The Psychosocial and Physical Experiences of Egg Donors Across the Lifespan. Student Research Poster.
March: University of Colorado Law School Guest lecturer: Bioethics and the Law class.
January: Training with Conceivabilities staff about continuing to connect their egg donors and parents right from pregnancy/birth on the DSR.
January: British Fertility Society Annual Conference: we presented our research on adult donor-conceived people.
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April 2022: New documentary: 23andMe. The culminating product of First Colonial's Legal Studies Academy senior project of Cam Dunkerly. This documentary highlights the lack of regulation and legislation in the anonymous sperm donation industry. We hear from Cam's siblings and his donor. Featuring an interview with The Donor Sibling Registry founder Wendy Kramer!
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Many egg donor agencies and clinics write the Donor Sibling Registry right into their contracts/agreements so that recipient parents and donors have access to each other right from pregnancy/birth.
●CONTACT: The issue of contact between the donor and the recipient is removed from the hands and focus of the agency/clinic.
●CONSENT: Since the DSR relies on mutual consent contact; the agency/clinic doesn’t need to be worried about protecting anyone’s privacy or incur the costs of tracking communication between donors and parents.
●CHOICE: Each party can remain private if they choose, so the decision is ultimately in the hands of those involved. Each party can decide the depth and breadth of the information they’re comfortable sharing.
●CURRENT: The sharing and updating of current medical information happen on the DSR, so the agency/clinic has less work since they have provided a tool for medical updates.
●EMPOWER: Parents and donors are empowered to set the parameters of their own relationships, without a middleman, and without having to wait18 years. Donor-conceived people have the opportunity to establish relationships with their genetic mothers/fathers while they are developing, not having to wait until they are adults.
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Your Family: A Donor Kid’s Story is a sweet and light-hearted picture book that answers the question "where did I come from?” and then gently introduces the concepts of half siblings and donors in an open and honest way. The book starts with the parent’s desire to have a baby, the use of a donor, and then broaches the topic of half siblings and biological parents/donors. A perfect book for (the millions of) donor-conceived children to learn about how they were conceived and for understanding that being curious about their unknown genetic origins and relatives is natural.
Just as there are many family types, there are also many ways to define a child’s family and their donor relatives. Reading this book with your young donor-conceived child can initiate or supplement important and ongoing dialog about these genetic connections. These early conversations are integral for creating a happy and healthy donor child and family.
"Your Family gives children born from egg or sperm donation a chance to see themselves reflected in a positive informative and accessible story. Most importantly this book will help families who have used reproductive technology to explain complex concepts to their children while giving them vital information about themselves and how they came to be. Here’s a book that is relatable and will allow children to feel proud of their special story."
—Susan Frankel, MFT, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and mother to a donor-conceived daughter
"A lovely book for children who were conceived with donor sperm or egg. Parents in all kinds of families will find it very helpful in explaining their child’s conception story in a gentle simple and positive way."
—Jane Mattes, L.C.S.W., psychotherapist and Founder/Director of Single Mothers by Choice
"Having worked with Wendy Kramer for many years I know her organization Donor Sibling Registry (DSR) is valuable to the LGBTQ parenting community. We’ve published family stories that talk about how DSR has brought joy to not just the half siblings discovering each other but to their gay parents as well. Kramer’s children’s book Your Family: A Donor Kid’s Story is an important contribution to the LGBTQ community and a great addition to the homes of all parents with donor-conceived children."
—Angeline Acain, publisher and editor, Gay Parent Magazine
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Donor Family Matters: My Story of Raising a Profoundly Gifted Donor-Conceived Child, Redefining Family, and Building the Donor Sibling Registry
The story of Wendy Kramer and her donor-conceived child, Ryan, who eventually found his biological father and 19 half-siblings. Wendy and Ryan created the Donor Sibling Registry, the world’s largest platform for mutual-consent contact of sperm, egg, and embryo donors, donor-conceived children and adults, and their parents.
Educate the child. Raise him or her without biases of any kind. Teach him or her to trust in others but to rely on self. Instill in him or her a sense of humor and the ability to enjoy life.”
Penned on a sperm bank intake form, these words of advice from Donor 1058 to the future recipients of his donations became a parental motto for one particular recipient, Wendy Kramer, who would go on to found the Donor Sibling Registry (DSR). With almost 75,000 members in 105 countries, the DSR is the world’s largest platform for sperm, egg, and embryo donors, donor-conceived children and adults, and their parents to connect and share information through mutual-consent contact. In her role with the DSR, Wendy has become a leading advocate for donor families and for reformation of the modern profit-driven donor conception industry.
This is the story of Wendy’s journey as the mother of a donor-conceived profoundly gifted child, Ryan, whose relentless curiosity — under the tenacious guidance and support of his mother — eventually led to his reunion against all odds not only with his biological father, Donor 1058, but also with 19 of his donor-conceived half-siblings scattered across the continent. Their experience — like the experience of so many of the Donor Sibling Registry’s members — illustrates how this brave new world of donor conception is stretching our understanding of the evolving nature and possibilities of “family.” This memoir, written with warmth and humor by Wendy herself, reminds us with story after story that there are few things more fundamental than the human need to know where we come from, nor more beautiful than the triumph of truth over shame.
"Wendy Kramer’s memoir — like Wendy Kramer herself — is invaluable, lucid, engaging, and full of wisdom. This book is a gift." —Dani Shapiro, donor-conceived offspring and author of Inheritance
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Finding Our Families: A First of-Its-Kind Book for Donor-Conceived People and their Families
Millions of people have been born with the help of donor sperm or eggs, including Wendy Kramer’s son. Realizing the unique concerns of being or parenting a donor-conceived child, Kramer launched what would become the world’s largest database for connecting donor-conceived people, the Donor Sibling Registry (DSR).
Finding Our Families provides additional support for this growing community. With compassion and insight, the authors draw on extensive research to address situations families face throughout a donor-conceived child’s development, including the search for a biological parent or half-sibling and how to forge a healthy self-image.
"Finding Our Families is a treasure trove of compassionate advice designed to help those raising the more than an estimated million people who were conceived using so-called donor* sperm, the tens of thousands whose lives began with eggs of contributors, and thousands who were "adopted" frozen embryos, as well as the donors.
The 258-page book compiled by Wendy Kramer, the mother of a donor-conceived son, and Naomi Cahn, family and reproductive law professor, helps blood-related kin navigate relationships unthought-of generations ago. The book offers how-to search assistance and suggests ways for the legal, social, and nurturing family to open their hearts and minds to those who contributed eggs, sperm, or embryos in addition to welcoming siblings who share the same or half genealogy." —March 2015 Huffington Post book review by Mirah Riben
"The book successfully honors its promise to deliver the tools necessary to help donor-conceived children discover and explore their genetic legacies.” —October 2013 Publishers Weekly review
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LGBTQ FAMILIES
The DSR welcomes and supports all those in the LGBTQ community as you're around a third of all DSR families and are represented in the DSR's Board of Directors.
The DSR will have a booth at the Boulder County Pride event in June!
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Donor Sibling Registry www.donorsiblingregistry.com
wendy@donorsiblingregistry.com
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