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Writer's pictureMargaret Ambrose

Why are these men making time capsules for their children they have never met?

Roger Clarke, 74, has spent a lot of time considering what should go in his time capsule.

So far he’s chosen photos of himself throughout his life, and snapshots of the places he’s

lived and of course, his family. A creative man with a background in advertising, Roger

imagines he’ll create a video. He’s still mulling over what he would put in it. It’s hard to

know what your children will want to know about you, when you’ve never met them.


“I imagine the video would have images of things I like to do, like cycling and hiking; the

voluntary work I do,” Clarke explains. But the most important part of the video, he says,

will be explaining to the child he’s never met, why he became a sperm donor.


A lost generation


These days, the business of sperm donation is controlled and regulated. Detailed

records are kept of donors and their recipients, and when they turn 18, donor-

conceived kids have access to information about their donor. But it wasn’t always the

case.


Back in the 1970s and 80s, at the dawn of IVF in Australia, little thought was given to

the importance of kids knowing about their donors. Donors were often recruited and if

records were kept at all, they were often scant.


“At the time sperm donation was a highly taboo, highly secretive subject,” explains

Clarke. “It was never talked about. Parents of donor-conceived children, the medical

profession and even the donors themselves went along with donor anonymity. As a

donor back then I thought it unlikely I'd ever meet my offspring.”


The result is a generation of Australian donors who know little or nothing about their

offspring, and donor-conceived kids, now adults, searching for their donors with very

little to go on.


To deal with this, most states have set up voluntary registers where donors and their

offspring can leave their details, and hopefully be matched. Problem is, both parties

need to register. The chances of a donor finding his offspring is made even slimmer

when you consider that many donor-conceived kids haven’t been told about their

conception.


And with many donors now in their 70s, time is running out.


Time capsules for sperm donors


Now, an agency in Melbourne has begun offering donors ‘time capsules’, in which

donors can put relics, letters and even videos that donors may want to give their

offspring.


According to the Victorian Assisted Reproductive Treatment Authority (VARTA), the

organisation that developed The Legacy Project, it may not sound like much of

consolation, but it will mean the world to a person who tracks down their biological

father only to find they are too late.


“Many donors are aging or may be unwell, and so may not be alive when their offspring

apply for information,” explains VARTA’s Donor Registers Service Manager, Kate

Bourne.


“By documenting information or creating a legacy, offspring will be able to have a better

understanding of their donor and this may help them to know more about where they

have come from.”


The Legacy Project was created for VARTA by Chloe Allworthy, a donor-conceived

woman, in consultation with donor-conceived people from around Australia.


In the 1980s Roger Clarke donated regularly for two years, at the former Prince Henry’s

Hospital in Melbourne.


Clarke’s wife had told him about an interview she heard on ABC radio discussing the

need for sperm donors, and they were both touched by the plight of childless couples

and wanted to help.


The hospital kept records, and Clarke was told he had five offspring. Two of those have

contacted him, and Clarke is thrilled. He has an ongoing relationship with them and

their families, and has even introduced them to each other. He insists that this has been

very positive for everyone.


But there are three more out there, and Clarke doesn’t want to leave them with

unanswered questions.


The three questions donors are always asked


Clarke has seen how important it has been for his donor-conceived kids to able to meet

him and ask him questions.


He also knows exactly what donors will ask, having already been asked twice.


“The first thing they want to know is, medical threats,” he says. “Have people in your

family died from heart attacks, that kind of thing.


“Then they ask about your interests and ability in regard to science and the arts. I’m

artistic and hopeless at maths, and one of my offspring is an artist; she paints. It’s a

relief to her to know where that comes from.


“The other thing they ask, which people find surprising, is around the issue of personal

relationships. How you get along with people; conflict resolution. Do you negotiate, do

you fly off the handle?”


Roger says ideally he would love to meet his other three offspring, but if that’s not

possible, he believes the time capsule will capture what they need to know. “It’s about

explaining who I am,’ he says. “So they can understand better who they are.”

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