Our flagship events are a wonderful opportunity to learn, share and meet others in a similar family situation. They are also a wonderful opportunity for donor conceived children to explore their origins and meet others made ‘just like them’.
From the very beginning when our charity was founded in 1993, we’ve always run two conferences a year. These events give members the opportunity to spend a day together, meeting in person and sharing their hopes, fears and stories in a confidential and supportive space.
We know how important and valuable these events are. Where possible, we offer a creche and children’s activities, so kids can attend too. It’s lovely for children to have a space to meet other children who are donor conceived. We’ve seen long-term friendships forged at the conferences. Not only that, but the event often acts as a prompt for some important and valuable conversations within the family.
The event includes presentations from speakers focusing on a range of donor conception-related subjects as well as small discussion groups. We generally hold our spring conference in London in April or May, and our autumn conference elsewhere in the UK (in 2022 we were in Bristol and in 2023 in Sheffield). We try to move around the UK to ensure we offer a local option close to home for our members.
We also offer a virtual conference online showing recordings of the highlights from the London conference. This allows members who were unable to attend the in-person event to still benefit from the rich and interesting content.
‘We were a bit apprehensive about attending… The conference helped us understand more and gave us more to think about!’
‘We have a one year old who was conceived using both egg and sperm donors. The conference made us feel like we are part of something bigger, it’s not just us who have a donor conceived child. Plus, it just normalized the whole issue. I feel less concerned about the fact that I have a donor conceived child – I feel much more relaxed about the whole thing – thank you!’
‘I always wonder if it will be worth going time/travel wise, but never disappointed, and always finish looking forward to the next one.’ (solo mum)
