Whether you donated sperm or eggs recently or many years ago, in the UK or abroad, this page offers information and support relevant to you.
If you’ve already donated, the first thing to know is whether a child was born as a result of your donation. Depending on where you donated that information might be easily accessible or totally unknown. Below is some information that we hope will be useful. You might also find it helpful to look at the films to hear the experiences of other donors. Use the links to find the information most relevant to you.
If you donated before 2005, you will have donated before the law changed in the UK. As a result, your status is that you are an anonymous donor.
If you donated before 1991, so before the HFEA was formed and treatment details were formally recorded, the HFEA will not have a record of you. If you donated between 1991 and 2005, the HFEA will have a record of you and a record of any outcomes, including children born and the sex and year of birth of these children.
UK law around donation changed in 2005. At DCN, we think this was a really positive move as we know many donor conceived people have questions around their genetic origins, not least around their medical history. If you donated in the UK before 2005, you can apply to the HFEA to change your status so you are identifiable. You would still be covered by all the relevant legal protections but it would enable any offspring to locate you. The HFEA and Donor Conceived UK are the best starting points if you think you would like to change your donation status from anonymous to identifiable. We are also happy to speak about the implications if this is helpful.
Be aware that people are regularly putting their DNA online through sites such as Ancestry.com or 23andMe. Donor conceived people are making connections with genetic family, whether intentionally or accidentally, through these sites. So even if you donated anonymously, there is a high chance that at some point someone in your family will connect with a genetic relative via DNA test who turns out to be one of your offspring or perhaps their child.
This is important for you, so you’re aware that you can be easily discovered through a DNA test and therefore your anonymity cannot be guaranteed. But it also means it would be helpful for everyone who needs to know to be aware that you were a donor. This applies to close family members, brothers, sisters, children, cousins. This means that they will immediately understand why a seemingly incomprehensible connection has been made with someone.
UK law changed on 1 April 2005 after which donors were no longer allowed to donate anonymously. Therefore, if you donated after this date, you will have donated as an ID release donor. This means any children created as a result of your donation will have the right to access information about you when they turn 18, if they wish to do so. This information will include your full name, your date of birth and your last known address.
You can also apply to the HFEA for information about any offspring born as a result of your donation. The HFEA can tell you: the number of children born; their sex; and their year of birth. . If you are wondering about what it might look like to make contact with offspring, do get in touch us or with Donor Conceived UK or the HFEA. The HFEA has specific information for your situation.
With more and more people using home DNA tests to find genetic family, those connections can be made at any point regardless of when you donated and what the law was at that point. So do be aware and make sure that you have open conversations in your family about the fact you’ve donated so that – if connections are made – people aren’t surprised or confused.
If you donated outside the UK, you will need to confirm with local legal frameworks and regulations. For example, donors in Spain are expected to be and remain totally anonymous. Donors in the US might be anonymous (although with DNA testing this is not guaranteed) but have lots of information about them available to recipients.
We are happy to connect donors with support organisations in the relevant countries if we can, so do get in touch if you want to know what organisations operate in your region. Check out our international links to find other organisations focused on donor conception issues across the world. You might also like to join our mailing list to stay up-to-date on issues around donor conception.
You might be very curious to know more about the children created as a result of your donation. If your family is aware you were a donor they might also be curious and it can be difficult to manage that lack of knowledge or information. If you donated anonymously, you may not be expecting any contact and that might feel OK. If you donated as an ID release donor you may be hoping that your offspring will get in touch at some point and it can be frustrating for that not to happen. You might not have been contacted because those children haven’t been told and are therefore unaware they’re donor conceived. Or it might be because they’re not interested, or not yet. Or it might be that they feel protective over their parents around expressing a desire for information about you or their half siblings.It’s also possible that they’re anxious about what (or who!) they might find Those situations might change over time, but it’s not a clear path. It’s probably not an easy state for you to be in and, unfortunately, you have very little control over how things will unfold.
At some point you might be thinking about whether a child might reach out to you. Regardless of when you donated, it’s possible that you’ll be approached by someone conceived as a result of your donation, or the HFEA might contact you to let you know that someone has requested your information. You might want to prepare for that theoretical or actual position and there are resources available to support you in that process.
