The South Australian Donor Conception Register (DCR) balances the privacy of people who have donated sperm, eggs or embryos with the rights of donor-conceived people to know their genetic heritage information.
A safe and supported experience
The DCR is a secure online portal.
The operation of the DCR (relating to people’s privacy and the collection of personal information) complies with all regulatory requirements under the ART Act and Regulations which include changed donor conception law.
As a DCR user, the DCR provides you with a safe environment to access and share information with your connections according to your personal preferences.
Types of information available
Where available, the DCR holds:
- Identity information: a person’s full name and date of birth.
- Contact information: a person’s home and postal address (which are not available to any connection), plus an email and / or phone number.
- Personal information for sharing with your connections: self-reported medical information and personal biographical information such as family history, interests, hobbies, personality and images (if added by DCR users).
Your preferences for managing contact with others
Access to your information does not guarantee personal contact between you and your connections.
DCR users are required to set their contact preferences to let each other know if they are open to contact or not.
Contact preferences can be set for your different connection types. For example, a donor-conceived person may be open to contact with their donor-conceived siblings but not with their parent’s donor(s).
You can change your contact preference settings at any stage to:
- No contact (default setting for all DCR users): contact details are not disclosed
- Undecided: contact details are not disclosed
- Open to contact: your choice of email or phone number is made available.
If you change your preference between ‘open to contact’ to ‘undecided’ or ‘no contact’, be aware that some of your connections may have already accessed your preferred choice of contact information and may still contact you.
The DCR does not disclose your home or postal address to your connections.
To learn more download the DCR Fact Sheet – Contact preferences and notifications (PDF 234KB).
DCR users can also select to be notified by the DCR when their information is accessed by a connection or when information about one of their connections is updated.
To learn more visit the webpage listed below that best describes you:
Birth certificates
You can request a birth certificate that includes your donor-conceived status, if you meet the following criteria:
- your parent’s donor conception treatment was undertaken in South Australia
- your birth was registered in South Australia.
If you are donor-conceived and were born on or after 26 February 2025, your donor-conceived status is automatically noted on your birth certificate.
In certain circumstances, the identity of your parent’s donor(s) can be included.
To learn more visit:
- Consumer and Business Services: Births, Deaths and Marriages
- Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1996.
Donor-conceived people aged under 18
If you are donor-conceived and aged under 18 – and were conceived through a donor conception treatment in South Australia – your parent(s) can register to access the DCR.
This will allow your parent(s) to access information to share with you about:
- their donor(s)
- any donor-conceived siblings born as a result of a South Australian donor conception treatment where their parent’s donor was the same as your parent’s donor.
You may apply to access information held in the DCR under certain circumstances without parental support. To request access, visit Applications to access DCR information.