Media and research requests
Media Requests
The following are some of the current media requests that we have received. If you would be interested in being interviewed, please contact the relevant journalist directly – contact information is provided for each request.
- Alessandra Pellegrini De Luca - IL POST
My name is Alessandra Pellegrini De Luca, I’m an Italian journalist working for Il Post and covering non-traditional families and stories of donor conception. This year, I’ll write a piece on the experiences of British DC people who, this year for the first time when they’ll turn 18, will be able to get identifying information about their donor, and potentially meet with them, following the lifting of donor anonymity in 2005. I’m interested in exploring what kind of experience this will be for them and how it could contribute to change the law in countries where gamete donation is still anonymous. Like Italy, where donor insemination was only legalised in 2014, it is anonymous, and there’s little or no debate on the removal of donor anonymity. Listening to the stories of DC people who got in contact with their donors might be of huge help for the Italian public.
I’m also interested in speaking with someone who recently got in contact with their donors through DNA testing. Here are my contact details:
Contact: pellegrinideluca@ilpost.it +39 3497298962, +44 7526799294.
Thanks in advance for your help.
Kindest regards,
Alessandra
Alessandra Pellegrini De Luca
Il Post srl - Via degli Olivetani, 10-12 - 20123 Milano - Italy
2. Blanche Girouard, Radio 4
Blanche Girouard has been commissioned by BBC Radio 4 to make a programme about donor conceived children as they turn 18. Her request is as follows:
The programme
“As the mother of a donor-conceived baby myself (born in 2020), I have been commissioned by BBC Radio 4 to make a programme which will feature a small number of donor conceived children and explore their thoughts and feelings as they turn 18, find out the identity of their sperm &/or egg donor and do/don’t make contact. The programme will air in 2024 – the year when the first cohort of DC children affected by the 2005 change in UK law (allowing them to have access to identifying information about their donor at 18) will turn 18.
Participants required
I’m currently in the process of trying to find participants! These participants need to be:
- DC children conceived in a UK clinic on or after 1st April 2005 and turning 18 in 2023/2024 (OR conceived just before 5th April 2005 using a donor who, retrospectively, has agreed to release identifying information so that they can make contact in 2023-4 OR able, for some other reason to identify and make contact with their donor in 2023-4)
- Open to the possibility of contacting their donor(s) in 2023/4 and willing to let us share this journey with them up to, and including, making (or not making) contact with their donor(s).
- Willing to reflect on their life, to date, with regards to their experience of being a DC child and to share their views on the best way to bring up DC children (with regards to talking about their conception, preparing them for the possibility of meeting their donor(s) etc.)
- Willing to let me talk to their donor(s) as well, in order to find out more about their experience of being an egg/sperm donor and what it is like waiting to hear from a DC child. Since it is a radio programme, they will not be visible and can even choose to be anonymous.
Timing and availability
The transmission date has not yet been agreed and will be determined once I have participants (and know when they turn 18).
The timing of interviews can be very flexible: what is important is that I can talk to participants before and after their 18th birthday and at key points during their journey towards making (or not making) contact.
Parental Permission and expressing an interest
Since these children are not yet 18, I will need parental permission to talk to them before their 18th birthday. I would expect to work with both parents and children when making this programme and, at this stage, would ask parents to make contact with me so that I can talk to them (and their children) about the programme itself and find out more about them.
If interested, please email blanchegirouard@hotmail.com with basic details about your DC child (e.g. date of birth, location of clinic, type of donor(s) and current location). I will then get back to you to establish contact and discuss things further.
Commitment
At this stage, no commitment is required: I simply want to explore the possibility of taking part with anyone who declares an interest.
About myself and the production team
I am the single mother of a gorgeous 2 year old DC daughter (conceived using donor sperm). I am also a writer, interviewer, radio presenter and teacher. You can learn more about my work at www.blanchegirouard.com.
As the mother of a DC baby, this is a very personal project for me. Through making this programme, I hope to give the general public a better understanding of sperm/egg donation and donor conception and to help the parents of young DC children (like myself) know how best to bring up their DC child. I’m keen to explore some of the wider issues on the way – such as the best age at which to tell a DC child about his/her conception, what vocabulary to use, the ideal age to make contact with a donor and how to prepare for, and set about, that contact. And I also want to find out more the experience of being an egg/sperm donor.
The programme will be produced by Kristine Pommert of CTVC. Kristine is a multi-award-winning international journalist and radio producer who works mainly for BBC Radio 3,4 and World Service. CTVC is an independent media company that makes programmes for BBC Radio 4, among others. You can read more about Kristine and CTVC here: People | CTVC Using media to educate, challenge and inspire since 1978 | CTVC.”
Blanche Girouard