the HFEA - adult donor photographs

[BethB123123]

Hi
I've just had a strange experience with the HFEA (human fertilisation and embryology authority) and was wanting some advice. I have been getting nowhere asking UK clinics if I can see photos of adult donors (they are v vague in response) and one clinic suggested I ask the governing body, the HFEA, who make the rules. I asked the Donor Information Officer, Danya Harris, via email, if he could tell me my legal options if I want to see adult photos of donors but want treatment (as far as possible) in the UK. His response, and I quote, "We can't comment on that and you would need to seek advice elsewhere".
If he won't answer it - who will?! I don't understand all the secrecy surrounding this issue. Why can't they be upfront re where we can get adult donor photos in the UK? I've been trying to get an answer to this question for so many weeks! Any help much appreciated.

That's very strange.

Is it though ? Or am I just expecting too much and from the wrong organisation? I really have no idea so any advice much appreciated! I’ve called a further three clinics today and two of them were foggy about the issue.

I thought that here in the UK all donors were anonymous and you wouldn’t get access to photos of them as adults. I have heard of photos being available in America. Perhaps an open donor would be a better option for you where you can see them for yourself. Obviously you would need to find them yourself rather than go through a clinic.

I needed help from the HFEA over a serious clinic malpractice and they were firstly, impossible to contact, and secondly, totally disinterested and useless. I felt abandoned by the government body who were meant to be there to help. Unforgivable.

Have you already used a donor or are you considering one? If it's the latter, I'd recommend using a clinic in the US. I have so much information about my children's donor, including an audio interview with him

U.K. donors are anonymous to recipients. Why would you get photos?

You shouldn't be able to see photos. It's anonymous and not a beauty contest.

Greece might be worth looking at.

Or Denmark.

Use a clinic that will import sperm from a speem bank that provides adult photos. Some American ones definitely do. You won't get a photo from a UK donor.

You don't have to have the treatment abroad, just import the sperm.

But I think even if I imported the sperm from the states, from a clinic that shows adult donor photos , I would not be able to see the photos under uk law if the insemination was done in a uk clinic? This is the question that the lister has avoided answering , and the hfea too.....

I am starting to wonder if some uk clinics do show the adult photos, but aren’t actually meant to.... or if they used to do it all the time but the legislation has changed and they are in the process of changing their practice and no longer showing them ?

I am starting to wonder if some uk clinics do show the adult photos, but aren’t actually meant to...

That would be my interpretation.

I’d absolutely love to hear of a uk clinic where I could see adult donor photos. But I just can’t find one....

I think Cryobank is the Danish sperm bank that ships to UK clinics.

Start a thread asking which clinics in yoir regin will wo rk with them. There's lots of experience on Mumsnet.

I don't honestly see how seeing photos of the donor as an adult is fully compatible with anonymity, but if people are avoiding giving you an answer about it and you're especially concerned with seeing such photos, then it seems like they're all giving you a grey area to work within. Find an overseas bank that has UK-standard donors but also has photos of them, make sure your clinic are happy with the bank (without reference to the photos, which are clinically irrelevant), look at the photos, order the sperm, boom.

I don't know about the law but I can tell you from that you can see the photos of UK compatible sperm donors on at least one US sperm bank website. You can view them before you commit to buying the sperm. I believe there is an extra charge.

Xytex in America have adult photos of the donors and lots of other info. You can ship to your UK clinic and use it there. Just check your clinic has a license for Xytex but a lot of them do. You can 100% see the adult photos and use the sperm in the UK. What you can't always do is purchase the photos officially from the sperm bank due to some HFEA thing but you can DEFINITELY see them

Wow thanks so much everybody - so helpful. I will let you know how it goes!

You might want to check the legislation of the relevant country when buying sperm from overseas. In the USA, there are no limits on how many times a donor can donate, meaning he could potentially have hundreds of children

@OrchidInTheSun I think they still have to be UK compliant though? So american banks will only have a handful of uk compliant ones and they can only donate to a limited number of families. I think our American donor was limited to 12 families because he's Uk compliant

Good point although other people are talking about buying from a us bank rather than going via a clinic.

Incidentally the law in the U.K. states a maximum of 10 families.

I don’t think anybody in this thread has said it is a beauty contest?

The hfea have said that they cannot answer whether adult photos of donors from abroad can be seen - and cannot recommend which uk clinics might do this - so I think it is a case of calling the clinics individually- please do let me know the names of any clinics who work this way - and I will start my calls tomorrow!