Nearly eight years have passed since the five founding families were brought together by Dr. Sheila Cooke at her clinic at the Jessop Hospital in Sheffield and gently 'bullied' by her into starting a national self-help network for DI parents and those contemplating using DI.

The five families, Angela and Andy Mays, Jane and Neil Offord, Sandra Giddings, Charlie and Maggie Manicom and Walter Merricks and me, all had children by DI. We were brought together by interest in a newspaper article about the book My Story which had been written by Angela and Jane and made possible by the Infertility Research Trust at the Jessop.

We hammered out a constitution (and a name!) for this new organisation in a hotel in Sheffield a few weeks later, in between being filmed by the BBC for a documentary called Seeds of Secrecy, which was shown in May 1993.

What we were very clear about from the beginning was that this organisation was to be inclusive. Anyone using DI for family creation would be welcome to join. We recognised that some individual members might have doubts and anxieties about including single parents and lesbian couples, but we were unanimous in the decision that the organisation would be completely open to all. This was not a difficult conclusion to come to as it seemed to follow naturally from the conviction that the welfare of our children was best served by being open with them. If what we were about was the needs and rights of the children then all children created by DI were welcome, as were their parents, no matter what type of family they came from.

This remains as true today as it did then. Where we have moved on to is to become even more inclusive with our name change, to very positively welcome families using egg and embryo donation for family creation.

Within this inclusive framework it is of course important to recognise the different needs of particular groups and in order to address this we have over the years appointed co-ordinators for single parent families, lesbian couple led families, egg and embryo donation families, as well as for DI families. All new members receive a 'phone call or letter from the co-ordinator of their group (unless they have spoken to someone on the Helpline before joining) within a few weeks of receiving the Welcome Pack of newsletter, library and contact list. In this way we hope everyone has the opportunity to feel part of a large group which is also capable of recognising their particular issues and needs.

It is of course impossible to meet everyone's needs all of the time, but I hope that over time the Network has been and will continue to be of value to you, whoever you are and whatever your situation! It is of course YOUR organisation so let the Steering Group know what you need and also what you could offer to help keep this unique network working for all.

Olivia Montuschi: Founding Member