Origin clarification
Depending on the individual, obtaining information regarding their genetic origins can be important to them. In addition to personal reasons, contacting the donor can also provide information on health issues or half-siblings.
If you have been told by your parents that you were conceived with the help of a sperm donation and are 16 years or older, there are various ways to clarify the donor’s identity.
As a first step, you will be given access to the available information (donor’s photo, biography) after careful verification that the donor is your sire.
If half-siblings have already come forward and given their consent, we will provide you with their contact information.
If you wish to have personal contact with the donor, we will inform the donor and suggest a meeting. Psychological support and preparation will be offered to you and the donor.
Alternatively, you can contact the BfArM in Cologne. After an appropriate check, all information regarding the donor identity will be handed over to you.
People who have learned from their parents or by other means that they were conceived with the help of a sperm donation from another sperm bank and want to clarify their biological origin, should first clarify in which practice or clinic the treatment was carried out. As such, you can usually obtain information about the sperm donor’s code number and the name of the sperm bank from which the donor sperm was obtained. If the sperm bank and the donor code are known, it should be possible to obtain the identity of the donor from the sperm bank in question.
Other options for clarifying the origin are DNA databases. These also offer the possibility of locating genetic relatives, such as half-siblings.
The association Spenderkinder.de also provides useful information.
The nationwide sperm donor register has been in place since July 2018. It stores personal details of sperm donors and recipients in connection with medically assisted artificial insemination for 110 years. From July 2018, children conceived in this way will be able to find out from a single location whose sperm was used in the artificial insemination.
The register is based on the “Act regulating the right to know parentage in the case of heterologous use of semen” (SaRegG), which was passed in July 2017. Among other things, it provides for data transfer obligations for collection facilities (RE, commonly known as “sperm banks”) and medical care facilities (EMC) that perform artificial insemination with donor sperm.
Anyone who suspects that they were conceived through sperm donation in a medically assisted artificial insemination after the law came into force and is at least 16 years old is entitled to information. For younger children, the legal representatives can apply for information (e.g. the parents).
Source: www.bfarm.de
