Tiffany Gardner, an adult DCP

I am pleased to announce my involvement with U.S. Donor Conceived Council, Inc. (USDCC) as vice president of communications. USDCC was established in 2022 and is led entirely by donor conceived people (DCP) who serve on a voluntary basis. Our goal is to educate about issues important to DCPs and to advocate for changes centered

Rejection from genetic family feels like being the kid nobody wants on the team. Do you remember the dread in PE when you were about to play a team sport and the students, not the teachers, would pick teams? I sure do. I remember the stress of standing on one side of the imaginary line

The above image is how the fertility industry attracts donors, and it exemplifies all that is wrong with monetizing these “donations.” Need money for a shopping spree? Sell your biological children to strangers! You don’t even have to allow your children to know your name or future medical history! You’ll have that new purse, six-pack

Share your joys and sorrows with your family. a fortune cookie Some days I just cannot fathom how I will spend the rest of my life cut off by my biological father and his family. Worth nothing more to them than a stranger on the street when I want so badly to have some small

If life can remove someone you never dreamed of losing, it can replace them with someone you never dreamt of having. @sloanestephens Twenty-four hours after my dad died (and just about two months after my biological father sent his “final chapter” email), a new brother showed up on my Ancestry DNA relatives page. I was

When my biological father stopped communicating with me, I thought perhaps God was taking him out of my life in exchange for my father who raised me. That maybe my dad would survive the cancer. I was wrong. It’s been exactly two years since I woke up to find an email titled “Final Chapter” and

Happy birthday to my biological father. I look at the picture of the day we first met just under three years ago and still cannot believe this is and always was my life. I still have to tell myself that this previously anonymous and secret stranger is and always was my biological father. I still

Today we raise awareness about the right to Genetic Identity, which has been recognized by the United Nations. Anonymous sperm and egg donation prohibit a person from having lifelong medical history updates, knowing their ancestry, and understanding exactly what parts of them are due to nature versus nurture. Anonymity leads to burning questions that are

That moment when you stumble upon an online photo of your nephew—the infant son of a half brother who has no interest in knowing you and who had an active role in destroying your relationship with your biological father—and realize that not only does your youngest son look just like your half brother, but your

When you fear the abandonment of another, the probability of you abandoning yourself goes up. Vienna Pharaon This one resonated. When I found my biological father and we connected, I did everything in my power to be perfect. I was sincere in my efforts at bonding with him and his wife, but I did my