Secrecy, family relationships and the welfare of children born with the assistance of donor sperm: Developments in research, law and practice

AN INCREASING NUMBER OF babies are being born using donated sperm, where the resulting child is genetically related to the mother but not to the father who raises the child. This chapter discusses a tendency towards secrecy among parents of donorconceived children, and developments in law and practice designed to ensure children born through donated sperm know how they were conceived and have access to information about their donors and half-siblings. This is couched in what we know about the implications of knowledge and secrecy for family wellbeing and child adjustment. It draws on new research from the Follow-Up of Children Conceived Through Donor Insemination project—a study of 111 Victorian donor-conceived children nested within the Australian Institute of Family Studies’ Children and Family Life study.