The folks over at Family Scholars and the Institute for American Values have released their long awaited reported regarding Donor Conception titled "My Daddy's Name is Donor".

I have not read though it completely yet and only have read the Executive Summary. Truthfully I can't argue against too much of what is written as it based on polls of a large sample of donor conceived adults, adoptees, and others. I can't say it is representative of every donor conceived adult as I have met a few that would argue otherwise. I admit freely that I have felt in the past that the positions espoused by Family Scholars have been put there and argued somewhat heavy handedly.

But what reports like these do is they provide information to intended parents which is useful before they decide if donor conception is right for their familes and also how they parent a child who is donor conceived. There are plenty of issues to consider and reports like this highlight many of them quite effectively. Sometime with a hammer, which some would argue is not helpful, but the message is made known.

More later.

Thanks to Wendy Kramer at the DSR for posting info re this scholarly article on the DSR Yahoo Discussion group. Ken Daniels is a leading author and researcher on the topic of donor conception. He is a Professor at the School of Social Work and Human Services, University of Canterbury, Chistchurch, New Zealand.

The full article / chapter is linked through the above blog post title.

Summary Provided by Elsevier:

Ken Daniels, MA (Hons), Dip Soc Stu, Dip App Soc Stu(Professor)Corresponding Author Informationemail address

Published online 10 October 2006.

"The practice of gamete donation has, until recently, been shrouded insecrecy. The stigma associated with infertility and, in particular, donor insemination has been the main factor contributing to thissecrecy. Over the last 20 years, this secrecy and the anonymity of thegamete donors has been challenged. In the first instance, the challenge came from governments in some countries legislating to abolish donor anonymity. Counsellors, social workers and psychologists advocating for the interests and needs of children and their families, as well as parents who did not wish to keep gamete donation secret from their children, were also instrumental in the change of policies and practice. Those offspring who know that they were conceived as aresult of gamete donation are also calling for an end to the secrecy. This chapter reviews the changes that have occurred and which are still occurring, and reviews the research associated with these changes."