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Please note that the Erlangen sperm bank will be closed during the Christmas holidays from 22.12.2025 to 06.01.2026 inclusive.
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On January 30, 2024, the Bavarian State Social Court ruled that the costs of storing sperm or eggs as part of a germ cell-damaging therapy must be reimbursed by the statutory health insurance fund. This applies if you have stored sperm or eggs with us or are planning to do so.
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Heterosexual couples

Psychological aspects

 

Intro

The road to parenthood

Content

When confronted with their situation, many women and couples first consider adopting or fostering a child. However, this is not a suitable option for all people. Often circumstances such as the age of the partner and marital status reduce. the chances of adopting a child or even make it impossible.

Treatment with donor sperm can therefore be a good alternative for fulfilling the desire to have children, starting a family and helping to shape one’s own life plan. By using donor sperm with donor sperm, the intended parents can experience the pregnancy and birth together. The parents are there for the child from the very beginning and provide them with love and care.

 

Some couples worry before treatment that they will not be able to accept and love the child as their own. In our experience, however, these fears are unfounded.

This also makes it understandable that scientific studies on starting a family with donor sperm and subsequent family cohesion paint a positive picture. The influence of donor sperm treatment on one’s own relationship is consistently strengthening. There are fewer divorces between partners who have used donor sperm treatment to fulfill their desire to have a family together and the children resulting from the treatment are equally loved and accepted by both partners. Subsequent surveys have shown that most couples would choose treatment with donor sperm again.

(Thorn, P. & Rodino, I.: Die Kunst der Familienbildung, The Art of Building a Family. FamART2021)

A suspected or diagnosed inability to conceive is often an emotional burden for couples. The entire future plan of having their own family with children can be severely shaken. In some cases, there are also fears about the partnership, which are mixed with feelings of guilt and loss of self-esteem. It can be comforting to know that several thousand couples in Germany alone are confronted with the diagnosis of “infertile” for the first time every year and that there are various ways to still have a child together.

It can be very helpful to get in touch with parents who already have children from donor sperm treatment and are willing to share their experiences. Contact can be made at www.di-netz.de.

You also have the opportunity to take part in preparatory seminars under psychological guidance with experts on donor sperm treatment and the associated psychological, medical and legal aspects. (www.pthorn.de)

You can also get personal contact and exchange ideas with parents with children from donor sperm treatment as part of such a seminar.

Intro

Educating the child

In any case, we recommend that the child itself is openly informed about the special circumstances of its conception as early as possible. Counseling by psychologically trained professionals with experience in donor sperm treatment is also highly recommended.

Interviews from different perspectives on the topic can be found here.

Some people believe that it is better not to tell children about their genetic background. However, concealing the true circumstances is often perceived as a burden by the parents later on and contradicts the deep relationship of trust between parents and child.

However, it is advisable to inform the child about the special circumstances of its conception as early as kindergarten. Children who grow up with this knowledge do not experience the situation as something unnatural, and the trust between parents and child is not strained.

Meanwhile there are also good educational picture books on this topic, e.g. at FamART.

Podcasts on the topic
Intro

Other Offers

Support from Family Therapist Doris Wallraff

Doris Wallraff is a recognized expert in the field of family education with donor seeds in Nuremberg.

Waiting, hoping and repeated disappointments can become a burden. Family therapist Doris Wallraff offers professional support in this phase of life. In counseling sessions, you can talk about your desire to have children and the feelings associated with it in a protected environment.

The goal is to find common perspectives and ways in a creative process to deal with the multiple burdens of infertility in a way that is comfortable for you.

Counseling can help with this
Request it directly here:

Information, contract and order documents

Request here
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