If you were conceived between 1st August 1991- 31st March 2005 you are part of the ‘Open the Register (OTR)’ cohort which is the name given to the group of donor conceived people eligible to apply to the HFEA for non-identifying information about this biological parent/your parents donor.
The level of detail can vary greatly. It might be very basic information such as height, eye colour, ethnicity and occupation. But as years went on donors were encouraged to write a ‘pen portrait’ which was a more detailed description of their traits, likes and dislikes and personality type.
A small number (less than 300) of donors from this era have chosen to waive their anonymity. If this is the case with your donor you will also be given this identifying information when you apply.
You will also be told about any genetic (half) siblings born from the same donor(s). You will learn how many, what year they were born and whether they were male or female at birth.
If there are other (half) siblings and you would like to connect with them the HFEA also have a voluntary register called the Donor Sibling Link (DSL) for this purpose. Please note these (half) siblings would need to know they are donor conceived, been through the OTR process themselves and volunteered their information to the DSL for a match to be possible.
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