recently found out my dad was a sperm donor

[carboncat]

My parents are my biological parents, and until this year I thought there were no other siblings.

Recently my father told me and my brothers that in the early 70s, he donated sperm to a Sydney gyneacologist called Dr Robert Mackie (also known as Bob Mackie) who had a medical practice in Sydney city.

This was back in the early days of donation, and the doctor was basically doing it as a sole operator and giving the sperm to female patients. Dad donated numerous times. There seems to be no paper trail at all.

My dad wants to get in touch with any potential offspring, and so does everyone else in the family, including mum. However, I don't even know where to start. I contacted that channel 7 show but they didn't answer.

Does anyone have any suggestions about how to go about doing this?

[Pax]

well fingers crossed you havent had a boyfriend that is your half brother.. :laughing:

OMG the dangers of sperm donation..

I would put an advert in the Personals column of the newspaper... saying "Sperm Donor searching for Wild Oats sown in 1970's" If you were born using a sperm donor and your parents were living in "area" i am searching for my wild oats and want to know you. I will pay for dna testing" run it for a 6 months period and see what happens.

[carboncat]

OMG the dangers of sperm donation..

yes that is a real issue especially since my father donated so many times. (thankfully I am sure it is not a problem for me).

Something just occurred to me. Dr Mackie was a gynaecologist. He not only helped with pregnancy, but saw the process through to birth. He is almost certainly listed on the birth certificate of any children that were born as a result of this process as the delivering physician.

Unfortunately, you can't search births, deaths and marriages records for "birth certificates signed by doctor".

[Roxy]

Maybe try and contact the Donor Conception Support Group - they have an office in Sydney. They may have a list of sperm donor conceived people who's parent's were patients of that Dr and are looking for their donor.

In the very least, they should be able to send you in the right direction if they can't help...

[NibbleCurlynBub]

I'm not sure about then, but now when children are born with the help of a sperm donor the child is allowed to access the information about their father at the age of 18.

Pretty sure, anyway.

Otherwise, Sperm donors are supposed to remain anonymous and you will need to keep in mind that a child born by sperm donor might not want to be contacted by the donor.

There is no harm in trying though. :)

[Roxy]

I'm not sure about then, but now when children are born with the help of a sperm donor the child is allowed to access the information about their father at the age of 18.

This only happens in the states where a donor conception registry has been set up, and at the moment that's mostly Vic and Qld...legislation is changing that will allow DC people access to that information once they are 18, but it didn't happen in the '70's (in fact most paperwork relating to sperm donors from the '70's was either not kept or has been destroyed).



Otherwise, Sperm donors are supposed to remain anonymous and you will need to keep in mind that a child born by sperm donor might not want to be contacted by the donor.

That's not necessarily true - there are lots of donations that happen with known sperm donors, and there are also donations that happen that start off as anonymous but go on to be known. Sperm donors are allowed to track down any people born from their donations, but you are correct that the DC people may not wish to have contact with their donor.