Resources
Experts warn more testing needed before stem cells can be used to make sperm and eggs
Media Release
While significant progress has been made in the creation of human sperm and eggs from stem cells, we are still some years away from the treatment being approved as safe and reliable, according to speakers at ‘Hype, hope or reality - can we make eggs or sperm from stem cells?’ a public lecture held this evening.
Explaining the Donor Registers Service
VARTA Donor Registers Service Manager, Kate Bourne explains the process of donor linking and how VARTA can assist in this process.
Export class application
Class application to export donated sperm interstate by a Victorian registered ART provider.
The Assisted Reproductive Treatment Act 2008 (the ART Act) requires that a person must not bring donor gametes, or embryos produced from donor gametes, into Victoria, or take them from Victoria, except with the written approval of the Victorian Assisted Reproductive Treatment Authority (VARTA).
Facebook groups
There are a number of Facebook groups that exist to support donor-conceived people and parents/recipients considering donor treatment or that have created their families with the help of donated eggs, sperm, or embryos. Some are listed below:
Family perspectives - talking to children about how you became a family
A panel of parents and their sons and daughters discuss how they told/were told that they became a family with the help of a donor or surrogate. Recorded at the 2016 Time to tell seminar.
Family storybook: "Dear Rosie"
Adam shows the film he and his wife, Rebecca made to explain how their journey to meet their daughter Rosie. They show the video not only to Rosie, but their family and friends too. This helps them all understand and connect with Rosie’s story. It includes footage of their clinic, the positive pregnancy test and follows Rebecca’s pregnancy and Rosie’s birth.
Family storybook: "How did I get in there"
Brin describes herself as a “chronic scrap booker”. She has gathered information photos and mementos to document her twin boys’ beginnings. She also includes her son’s comments in the story e.g. “They were baby eggs not eating eggs!” She describes how her scrapbooks have been an easy way to tell the story and “We refer to it whenever they get confused.”
Family storybook: "My special donor buddy"
Not only did Sandra make a digital journal for her daughter, Eloise, but she also made a book for her 5 year old donor’s daughter, Hayden, to explain her mother’s help. Hayden then told the story in her own words and drew pictures to match. They describe “how their family became Sandra’s special donor friends and how Eloise became my special donor buddy”
Father's health before conception ultra important
MEDIA RELEASE
3 September 2015
Lifestyle and environmental factors for fathers in the months leading up to conception can directly impact on the health of a child at birth and into adulthood, according to Professor Sarah Robertson of The Robinson Research Institute, in a lecture tonight at the Alfred Hospital for the Louis Waller Lecture 2015.