We were founded on a belief that openness about donor conception is best for children, and for families. But we know it’s not always easy, so we have a range of books and services to help you build confidence in your family story.
Our Network was started by five families who had decided to tell their children about their origins and who came together to support each other. At that time secrecy was the norm, and donors were all anonymous.
Nowadays, the recommendations of professionals and researchers back up the decision of those founding families. Lessons from adoption demonstrate that secrets can undermine trust in families and that honesty and openness between parents and children encourages warm relationships. And actually, keeping a secret, whilst sounding simple, can be much harder than people think.
But…. we recognise that talking about such private things isn’t easy for everyone.
You may be unsure whether to tell. If you are using an anonymous donor you may think there’s no point when there’s no information available. Perhaps you’re worried about upsetting or confusing your child, or having personal information made public. These are all very understandable concerns and questions and we can help you think them through.
Getting the balance right between privacy and honesty isn’t always easy. Finding the right age, the right words, the confidence, to explain to children or young people how they were conceived can feel daunting. Most parents need support and that’s where we come in.
Telling is a process and each family is different.
Books: we have lots of books around telling and talking. For those with children between 0-7, the Our Story range is a children’s story book with age-appropriate language and we have over 40 versions, so there’s one for your family situation. Plus our Telling & Talking series will help you think through how and what you tell different groups of people.
Workshops: our long-running Telling and Talking workshops offer a safe space with experienced facilitators to help you think through your family story.
Children’s groups: At our national spring conference we offer a group for donor conceived children aged 8-12, and non-donor conceived siblings in this age bracket. Also at our annual conference, we have a creative session called ‘What Makes Me, Me?’ which is suitable for 8-12 year olds and our teen activity is perfect for slightly older children aged 13-17.
Connections with donor conceived families: we have over 2000 household members, 90+WhatsApp groups, 150 online chats per year and more, so you can be sure of finding a community of families in a similar situation to share and connect with.
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Members and non-members
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Members and non-members
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