Australia, Sperm Donor Children

Law ending sperm donor secrecy helps Australian find her dad

Source APNews

In this Thursday, May 17, 2018, photo, Peter Peacock, 68, left, and Gypsy Diamond, 36, pose for a portrait after an interview with The Associated Press, in Melbourne, Australia. Peacock, who donated sperm anonymously around 1980, was recently contacted by Diamond, his biological daughter, after a new law in Australia retroactively removed the anonymity granted to sperm donors decades ago. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E), The Associated Press

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — For Peter Peacock, fate arrived in the form of a registered letter.

The letter, at least initially, looked to be a bit of a letdown. Peacock had gone to the post office expecting the delivery of a big, furry aviator jacket he’d ordered online. And so it was with little fanfare that the Australian grandfather and retired cop tore the envelope open as he walked back to his car — at which point he stopped dead in his tracks.

“Dear Mr Peacock,” the letter began. “The Victorian Assisted Reproductive Treatment Authority (VARTA) has received an enquiry of a personal nature which may or may not relate to you. The matter concerns a record held in relation to a project you may have assisted with at Prince Henry’s Institute.”

Read more

Sperm Donor Children

UK – 17 British sperm donors have fathered more than 500 children between them, figures show

Source The Telegraph

Charities have warned that dozens of babies could be left with genetic mutations because sperm donors are not screened CREDIT:GETTY IMAGES CONTRIBUTOR

Seventeen British sperm donors have fathered more than 500 children between them, new figures show.

The startling numbers have led to fears that men could be unknowingly passing defective DNA to dozens of youngsters, because currently donors are not screened for faulty genes such as BRCA1/2 which increase the risk of ovarian and breast cancer.

It also raises the risk that siblings could unexpectedly meet and form relationships without realising they are related.

Although more than 18,000 children have been born who have at least nine other half-brothers or sisters, just 163 have registered on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) Donor Sibling Link, which attempts to reunite them.

Read more

Sperm Donor Children

WHY THIS TEEN, GIVEN LIFE BY SPERM BANK, IS CALLING FOR CHANGES TO INDUSTRY

Source 11Alive

When he was just 14, John wanted to learn more about the sperm donor that helped give him life.

“At this age, your trying to figure out what makes you… you,” he told 11Alive.

So in March 2017, John, whose name 11Alive has changed to protect his identity, went online. But with a simple Google search, he learned more than he could have imagined.

The internet was filled with stories about the donor, diagnosed bipolar with schizo-affective disorder, that had been allowed to donate at THE Georgia sperm bank Xytex, for nearly 14 years.

It was a month earlier that 11Alive Investigator Rebecca Lindstrom began an ongoing investigation into the donor, the industry and the push for change.

Read more

Sperm Donor Children

Online search for sperm donor children brings three ‘special brothers’ together

Source ABC News

PHOTO Caelan, Jacob and Chevy are biological siblings. SUPPLIED: SIMONE

Three women who used an online registry to find other children fathered by the same sperm donor say their sons now have a regular relationship with each other.

Simone, Casey and Grace said they each arrived at the decision to become a single parent for different reasons.

Simone was 37 and fed up with searching for Mr Right when she started searching for an anonymous sperm donor in Brisbane.

Read more

egg donor children, Same Sex, Sperm Donor Children, surrogate children

How To Answer The Question ‘Mum, Mama…. Where Did I Come From?’

Source QNews Magazine

“Won’t someone think of the children?” cried the far right during the recent plebiscite, where the nation was invited to vote on the validity of our families.
One of the biggest cannons aimed against marriage equality was the idea that our relationships — and conception! — couldn’t be discussed with children.

I can’t speak for the rest of my allies in the LGBTIQ community, but I have been thinking of the children for a long time. Not only have I spent my career in the classroom, educating children, I have longed for a family of my own since I can remember.

Read more

Australia, Sperm Donor Children, VARTA

Australia – Living on a knife’s edge’: Families dealing with sudden notification of sperm donor children

Source 3AW693 NEWS TALK

Neil Mitchell has spoken with three people affected by the Victorian Assisted Reproductive Treatment Authority’s release of a report, revealing previously unknown details about sperm donors to both donor children and biological fathers.

One is angry, one is hopeful and one is terrified.

The VARTA report to be released earlier this week revealed some donors who believed they were contributing to research actually have a number of biological children.

John told Neil Mitchell he and his wife have 35-year-old and 45-year-old children and subsequent grandchildren, who don’t know John isn’t biologically related to them.

Read more