Our flagship London conference
We’ve been running conferences for our members since the charity was founded over 30 years ago, recognising from the very beginning the value of bringing people together to meet, talk and share. While the format has evolved over time, our flagship London event each spring remains a key date in our calendar and this year was no exception.
“One reason we keep in touch with DCN events is so that we have somewhere we can turn in case of future challenges – but the ongoing involvement of the whole family has helped prevent some of the challenges arising in the first place. Thank you DCN.”
The London conference always feels particularly special and I think that’s partly because it’s in person and partly because people can bring their children. With a crèche, childcare up to age 12 and a range of children’s activities, the day is truly family-focused – a powerful reminder of why so many people begin this journey in the first place.
Of course, for those who haven’t conceived yet it can be a challenge to be surrounded by pregnant women, babies and young children. But we know it also brings hope. People can see that the children are just children and donor conception families are just families. And when they see that this option has been successful for others, they open to the possibility that maybe it could be successful for them, too.
Bringing people together in this way also gives us the privilege of witnessing the arc of family life over many years. Prospective parents arrive, often nervous and unsure what to expect. They listen, connect, and absorb the wide range of personal stories. They leave feeling both exhausted and energised. A few years later, we might see those same people pushing a pram – and before long, returning with children in tow, heading off to join in the activities.
It’s often a striking moment, realising how much time has passed since that first conference, when their future felt so uncertain.
Alongside childcare, we offer a range of bespoke sessions. We’ve invested significantly in developing activities for children, creating opportunities for them to connect and share in ways that are fun, safe and age-appropriate.
“Great for my child to meet other children in the same situation, and to normalise donor conception.”
Over fifteen years ago, Dr Sharon Pettle developed our first group for 9-13 year olds, now called Talking About Donor Stuff, which we continue to run regularly. Around eight years ago, we introduced What Makes Me, Me, a creative session for 9-12 year olds led by Natalie Tayte.
We’ve also expanded our offer for teenagers, piloting a Teen Space for 13-16 year olds, led by Astrid Indekeu. This has continued to evolve as we learn more about what works best for this age group, not always easy as you can imagine. The space is supported by donor conceived young adults in their twenties which hopefully makes it more fun and interesting as well as less awkward for the teenagers.
Some children attend year after year, moving through the different activities and eventually becoming helpers or even contributing to conference panels, bringing invaluable insight and perspective.
We get a rare and special insight into how these journeys unfold over time.
For adults, the conference programme continues to evolve too. Alongside guest speakers sharing personal stories and experiences, we run small discussion groups on topics that reflect the changing needs and questions of our community. More recently, we’ve introduced experiential sessions, giving people the chance to engage in ways that go beyond discussion. These have added real depth to the day and offer something distinct from our online groups and webinars.
This year, the broad theme for the day was ‘Telling and Talking’ and we ran a particularly important session on Challenges, which received excellent feedback. This session created space to explore some of the more complex realities of being open about donor conception.
We discussed areas such as how telling might be a different process with children with special educational needs, navigating telling children when parents have separated, and managing situations where wider family or community support may be limited. We also explored the range of emotions and perspectives donor conceived children may have at different stages of life. This was a really interesting discussion which opened up a bigger conversation that felt much needed.
And we always end the day with cake, because so often it really is a celebration and celebrations require cake.
All in all, it was a thought-provoking and engaging day – here’s what one attendee shared in our post-event survey:
“This was my first DCN conference and it massively exceeded my (already pretty high) expectations – thank you! We will definitely be back!”
Lovely words to receive!
Nina Barnsley
1st May 2026
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