[The secrecy aspect of donor insemination]

A literature review among couples treated with donor insemination (DI) showed that almost all participants had planned not to inform the child that this treatment had taken place. Many of the couples had told other people about the treatment, and thus opened up the possibility of a traumatic disclosure. Though secrecy about DI treatment could be taxing for the couple, this strain did not negatively influence the assessment of the relationship, parenthood, or the parent-child relation. Psychosocial development of DI-children was not different from other children's development. It was not possible to show a deleterious effect of keeping the treatment a secret. There is a lack of qualitative studies about the consequences of secrecy for the relationship between DI-parents, for parenthood and for the child. Only one study included adult DI-children.