Counseling Donor Family Members: A Guide for Mental Health Professionals

Wendy Kramer · Hilary Bertisch

Nov 2023 · Ethics International Press

About this ebook

Donor families are unique, yet are also becoming substantially more common with the exponential advancements being made in the field of reproductive medicine, and with the wider acceptance of LGBTQ+ and single-parent families utilizing donor gametes in recent decades. The accessibility of commercial DNA testing is also helping to expand these families, as many people are finding out by surprise that they are part of a sometimes quite large donor family. Individuals connected to donor families are therefore much more likely to be seen across a variety of mental health and medical settings for a range of presenting problems, either related to or separate from this part of their background. For these individuals the challenges of forming and redefining family as they explore their own or their child’s new biological connections are therefore very likely to surface as a topic of discussion in treatment. Given the greatly increased probability of encountering a client connected to a donor family in their practices across settings, and the specific challenges this presents, clinicians must be well-informed about all perspectives in order to address such issues in a knowledgeable and sensitive manner. Counseling Donor Family Members provides clinicians and mental health professionals with guidance on the unique issues that can present for egg and sperm donors, parents of donor-conceived children, and donor-conceived people. Counseling Donor Family Members is both a resource for mental health and medical professionals in any setting, and a useful reference book for researchers, and donor family members themselves. It presents evolving ideas, recommendations, and talking points, that can be used in counseling everyone in the donor family. Understanding all viewpoints is important for a successful counseling experience with any parent, egg and sperm donor, or donor-conceived person.

About the author

Wendy Kramer co-founded the Donor Sibling Registry in the USA. She has conducted numerous research studies, and has published more than 30 peer-reviewed papers on the subject, and authored or co-authored a number of books. Hilary Bertisch, Ph.D., ABPP is a member of the Board of Directors of the Donor Sibling Registry. She is a senior psychologist and Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Northwell Health, Zucker Hillside Hospital. Her work has been with individuals who have early psychosis and other brain-related conditions, and she regularly hears themes related to trauma, adjustment, and identity, which can generalize to the experience of donor-conceived adults as well. Dr. Bertisch also has a strong background in psychological and medical research, and her work has been recognized internationally.