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Families’ experiences of talking about donor-conception: How do caregivers and children feel when they discuss their origin stories?
  • Javiera Navarro
Javiera Navarro
Universidad Alberto Hurtado

Corresponding Author:jnavarro@ahurtado.cl

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Abstract

New family forms have emerge with the inception of artificial reproductive technology (ART) and one of these new forms are donor-conceived families. These families challenge the traditional definition of family but are also challenged to disclose origins to their children. Developmental psychology has scarce evidence about how these conversations unfold and how families feel about these instances of origin storytelling. Therefore, this research explored how families with donor-conceived children experience talking about conception stories. This was achieved with a qualitative descriptive and naturalistic approach with 17 donor-conceived families with children between 3 and 8, living in Chile. Families were asked to record their conversations, and later reflect about them. The main results show that the experience of talking is diverse but share certain common features: conversations are complex, intimate and co-constructed. Conception stories are a multi-layered process ongoing throughout development. The relevance of these results is that rescues the voices of the first generation of children in Chile growing up in donor-conceived families.
31 Oct 2024Submitted to Infant and Child Development: prenatal, childhood, adolescence, emerging adulthood
01 Nov 2024Submission Checks Completed
01 Nov 2024Assigned to Editor
06 Nov 2024Reviewer(s) Assigned
12 Dec 2024Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
18 Dec 2024Editorial Decision: Revise Major