# Woman's hour radio 4 now



## LittleFriend (May 28, 2010)

There is an article on donor conceived children on radio 4 now. It might be on listen again/ iplayer later.


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## olivia m (Jun 24, 2004)

I too 'listened again' having missed the live programme.  It was a lively debate with valid points being raised by all speakers - Julia Feast of the British Association for Adoption and Fostering, Professor Alison Murdoch from Newcastle Centre for Life fertility clinic and Shirley Brailey, a 61 year old donor conceived adult.
Just to say that DC Network does NOT support information about donor conception appearing directly on birth certificates.  IF a system, such as that advocated by Julia Feast, were to come into being, whereby the birth registration system was changed for ALL children with a certificate indicating that there MAY be further information about biological parentage, we probably would not oppose it.  However, given the legislation that would have to be changed and the money that would have to be poured into a new system, let alone setting up a way in which information given by parents could be verified, we think it highly unlikely that this will ever happen.
It just needs all parents needing help from a donor to have their family to understand how important it is that they are honest with their children.  If everyone could manage this then there would be no need to even talk about changing birth certificates.
Olivia


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## LittleFriend (May 28, 2010)

My personal belief would be that it would be a totally and utterly pointless thing to do. People that do not agree with disclosure would just opt out of all treatment in the UK and have treatment abroad and never declare it, thus meaning any resultant child would have no way of finding out. I think the current system means that parents who opt to have treatment in the UK but don't want to disclose, can still access it. Over time if the parents change their mind, the door is still open to discuss it with a child and allow them to have details about their donor. My personal belief is that it will end up being bad for children in the long run.


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