• To provide support to existing parents, to the children themselves, and to those contemplating or undergoing treatment.

• To increase public awareness and acceptance of family creation through donated gametes.

As many as one in seven couples may find it difficult to conceive a child. For some of these couples, particularly where the male partner is infertile or carries a genetic disorder, donor insemination may be their only hope of having children. Similarly where the female partner cannot produce eggs, donated eggs are used. There are approximately 2,200 children born each year in the UK to women who have conceived following treatment with donated gametes.

For parents with children conceived in this way a major issue is whether or not to tell their children, other family members or friends. DC NETWORK is a group started in 1993 by parents who had decided to tell their children about their origins and who came together to support each other.

Our membership now comprises families and individuals from all over the UK and abroad. It includes those who are still coming to a decision about whether donated gametes treatment would be right for them; those undergoing treatment which has not yet been successful; those who already have children but have not yet found it possible to tell their children or their families but intend to do so; and those who have children and wish to be in contact with other such families. Our members include married and unmarried couples, single women, lesbian couples, parents who have been separated, divorced or widowed - and individual adults who are donor offspring.

We distribute newsletters, hold national meetings at least twice a year, and local groups are holding meetings in their own areas. The meetings are not just for adults - children are welcome and have the chance to meet and get to know other children. Meeting and making friends with other families with children of similar origins is a helpful way to overcome inhibitions. Members are supplied with a list of phone numbers of those members who are prepared to be contacted for support. Some of our members have considerable expertise on various aspects of infertility investigation and treatment.

We consider that our children need to grow up with the knowledge of how they have been conceived. In our view the secrecy which doctors used to suggest no longer represents the best advice. We feel that it is best to start talking as early as possible both with children and with our own families and that secrecy over such an important issue as one's origin is an insecure basis for a lasting and loving family relationship. The more open society is about infertility and family creation with donated gametes, the easier this will all become. So we have consciously tried to obtain sympathetic media coverage in a way which will promote wider public acceptance. We have compiled a useful library of articles, cuttings and books relating to DI and other treatments, and operate as a clearing-house of information on the subject.