This study examined families where children lack a genetic and/or gestational link with their parents. A total of 101 families (36 donor insemination families, 32 egg donation families and 33 surrogacy families) were interviewed when the child was aged 7 years. Despite a shift in professional attitudes towards openness, about half of the children conceived by egg donation and nearly three-quarters of those conceived by donor insemination remained unaware that the person they know as their mother or father is not, in fact, their genetic parent. By contrast, almost all the surrogacy parents had told their child how they were born. A majority of parents who planned never to tell their child about their conception had told at least one other person. However, qualitative data indicated that to categorize families as ‘secret’ or ‘open’ is inadequate. In fact many parents engage in ‘layers’ of disclosure about their child’s conception, both with their child and with family and friends.

In spite of mothers' concerns about disclosing DC to their children, children responded to disclosure in a neutral way and most parents did not find disclosure to be problematic.

An increasing number of babies are being born using donated sperm, where the child lacks a genetic link to the father, or donated eggs, where the child lacks a genetic link to the mother. This study examined the impact of telling children about their donor conception on mother-child relationships and children's psychological adjustment. Assessments of maternal positivity, maternal negativity, mother-child interaction and child adjustment were administered to 32 egg donation, 36 donor insemination and 54 natural conception families with a 7-year-old child. Although no differences were found for maternal negativity or child adjustment, mothers in nondisclosing gamete donation families showed less positive interaction than mothers in natural conception families suggesting families may benefit from openness about the child's genetic origins.Keywords gamete donation; egg donation; donor insemination; mother-child relationship; psychological adjustment Advances in reproductive medicine since the birth of the first baby through in vitro fertilization (IVF) in 1978 have resulted in more than 3 million children worldwide (International Committee for Monitoring Assisted Reproductive Technology, 2009). Many of these children are conceived using donated gametes (sperm or eggs), either through donor insemination or egg donation. Donor insemination refers to the insemination of a woman with the sperm of a man who is not her husband or partner. The resulting child is genetically related to the mother but not to the father who raises the child. Egg donation is like donor insemination in that the child is genetically related to only one parent, but in this case it is the mother with whom the child lacks a genetic link. With embryo donation, the child lacks a genetic link to both parents. In the case of intra-family donation, whereby gamete donation takes place between family members, the parent will have a partial genetic link to the child.Those who become parents through assisted reproductive procedures involving gamete donation tend not to tell their children about their donor conception and thus the majority of Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Susan Golombok, Centre for Family Research, Faculty of Politics Psychology Sociology and International Studies, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3RF, U.K. seg42@cam.ac.uk. The following manuscript is the final accepted manuscript. It has not been subjected to the final copyediting, fact-checking, and proofreading required for formal publication. It is not the definitive, publisher-authenticated version. The American Psychological Association and its Council of Editors disclaim any responsibility or liabilities for errors or omissions of this manuscript version, any version derived from this manuscript by NIH, or other third parties. The published version is available at www.apa.org/pubs/journals/fam NIH Public Access NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript children conceived in this way remain unaware that the...

Each year, an increasing number of children are born through surrogacy and thus lack a genetic and/or gestational link with their mother. This study examined the impact of surrogacy on mother-child relationships and children’s psychological adjustment. Assessments of maternal positivity, maternal negativity, mother-child interaction and child adjustment were administered to 32 surrogacy, 32 egg donation and 54 natural conception families with a 7-year-old child. No differences were found for maternal negativity, maternal positivity or child adjustment, although the surrogacy and egg donation families showed less positive mother-child interaction than the natural conception families. The findings suggest that both surrogacy and egg donation families function well in the early school years.

Although the sample was small, this study provides the first longitudinal data on the experiences of families created using donated gametes from a family member. Intra-family donation between sisters or sisters-in-law can be a positive experience for recipients during the first 10 years following the child's birth. Studies that are specifically designed to look at donation between family members are needed to better evaluate the practice.