All Donors
Please consider Commercial DNA testing with sites such as Ancestry as they tend to be a lot more fruitful for those of us seeking information. You can find more information about Commercial DNA testing on the following page: DNA Testing.
We have an active and supportive private Facebook group that you are welcome to join. It started out as the DCR Registrants group so includes both former donors (who were donating more than 18 years ago) and donor conceived people (18+), but no one else. We find this mix adds a lot of value. Please email us at Info@donorconceiveduk.org.uk to request access.
Donors who donated after April 2005
If your donation was after 01 April 2005 (in a licensed UK fertility clinic) your donation was not anonymous.
From 2023 onwards, the first cohort of donor conceived people (conceived via identity release donation) are beginning to turn 18.
It is possible that someone conceived from your donation may identify you either by making an Opening the Register (OTR) request to the HFEA or via online commercial DNA testing (often in combination with other online information about you).
Donor conceived people can request information about you, (including your name, last known address and date of birth), once they reach the age of 18 , from the HFEA Opening the Register service.
If someone asks the HFEA for your information, you will be contacted by the HFEA (via the address details they hold for you) to let you know that a donor conceived person has requested your contact details.
If your address details are incorrect, you will not be notified and a donor conceived person may attempt to contact you via a previous address. It is therefore important to keep your contact details up to date with the HFEA.
Donors who donated between August 1991 and April 2005
If you donated after August 1991 you can apply to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) for information. You should be able to find out how many births there were from your donations and you can also lift your anonymity in case anyone conceived post August 1991 applies to the HFEA for information about their parents’ donor.
Rules around releasing donor information | HFEA
Remove your donor anonymity | HFEA
Donors who donated before August 1991
If you donated before any regulations were introduced in August 1991 there were no requirements to keep any records back then. (There is more information about the historical timeline of donor conception on our website: History of Donor Conception in the UK – Donor Conceived UK)
The only ‘official’ route therefore is to join the Donor Conceived Register Donor Conceived Register (DCR) – Liverpool Womens NHS Foundation Trust. The main objective of the Donor Conceived Register is to match pre-August 1991 donors and donor-conceived people and/or donor-conceived people sharing the same donor. If this is something you would like to explore and you would like to be put in touch with the DCR Team please email us at Info@donorconceiveduk.org.uk to request this.
Joining the DCR is free and you don’t have to do the DNA test to join. There is a £95 fee for the DNA test and an additional £50 if you want Kings College London (where the lab is) to do the sampling for you (it needs to be done by a medical professional and paperwork signed). You can pay extra to have a nurse come to your home to do the test and the cost varies based on where you live in relation to Kings College London. It’s a tiny database so chances of a match are slim, but not impossible.
The DCR Team also offer two free counselling sessions. You won’t need to submit DNA to access those.
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