Donor insemination: Dutch parents' opinions about confidentiality and donor anonymity and the emotional adjustment of their children

Results from a comparative study investigating 38 donor insemination (DI)Dutch families with 4-8 year old children are presented. The aims of thisstudy were to investigate parents' opinions on the issues ofconfidentiality and donor anonymity, to assess the emotional development ofthe children, and to examine in DI families the association between secrecywith regard to the use of a donor and the emotional adjustment of thechildren. The DI families were compared to families with a child conceivedby in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and to families with a naturally conceivedchild. Secrecy appeared to be associated with DI and not with IVF: 74% ofthe DI parents intended not to inform the child about the way in whichshe/he was conceived, whereas none of the IVF parents intended to keep thesecret. Only one set of DI parents and two sets of IVF parents had actuallytold the child. As to donor anonymity, a spread of opinions appeared amongDI parents; 57% preferred an anonymous donor, 31% would have liked non-identifying information about the donor, 9% preferred the donor's identityto be registered and 3% remained unsure. Parents' major concern was to knowmore about the medical/genetic background of the donor. Mothers and fathersin the DI families differed in their opinions concerning the issues ofconfidentiality and donor anonymity: fathers, more often than mothers, weresecretive with regard to the use of a donor and husbands, more often thantheir wives, were in favour of donor anonymity. With regard to theemotional development of the children, more emotional/behavioural problemswere revealed among DI children than among children who were naturallyconceived. No association was found between secrecy and theemotional/behavioural adjustment of the children.