If you have ever donated gametes or embryos anonymously, law changes in South Australia include a 90-day delay to the release of your name and date of birth to your donor-conceived connections on the state’s Donor Conception Register (DCR).
90-day delay period
If your donation was sourced for a South Australian donor conception treatment during or before September 2004, the release of your name and date of birth (identity information) on the DCR is subject to a once-off delay period of 90 days (the delay period) before being made available in the DCR (disclosed) to any donor-conceived people born as a result of your donation, (i.e. your connections).
The delay period commences when you access the DCR for the first time, or when your connection first requests your details – whichever occurs first.
The delay period provides you with time to:
- register to access the DCR to update your information, contact preferences and other settings
- learn more about the DCR and the law changes including:
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- adding any personal biographical or medical information
- viewing basic information about your connections
- talk to your family about your donation if you have not done so previously
- if needed, to seek support from the Government of South Australia’s DCR Support Service (DCRSS), or through your own preferred provider.
If a connection has requested your details but you haven’t registered on the DCR, the delay period allows the DCRSS to conduct a search to locate you before the delay period ends, to inform you of the changes to the law and the DCR.
In some circumstances, the delay period may be extended. For example, if a donor is located just before the end of the first delay period, an extension of up to a further 90 days may be granted.
The delay period is only applied once (including any extensions). Once the delay period is completed, your identity information is made available to your connections in the DCR. The delay period does not apply to each individual person born as a result of your donation.
Immediate access option
When you register to access the DCR, you can waive the delay period and disclose your identity information immediately to your connections, if you wish to do so. If you choose to receive notifications from the DCR, you will be notified when any connections access your identity information.
This decision is your personal choice and is only activated if you select this option in the DCR.
Access to your identifying information does not guarantee personal contact between you and your connections, due to the DCR’s contact preference system.
To learn more download DCR Fact Sheet – How to manage contact preferences and DCR notifications (PDF 234KB).
Availability of historic information
Not all historic assisted reproductive treatment (ART) records are available due to record-keeping practices in past decades.
If you want to access information about an ART (donor conception) treatment prior to September 2004, information may be missing because:
- records may have been censored or destroyed due to the previous guarantee of donor anonymity and historic record-keeping practices
- up until 2010, ART clinics were required to keep information about a donor in a different location to the treatment record, resulting in incomplete records
- over the years clinics have closed down, changed ownership or relocated.
These gaps where information has not been found means that for some DCR users, the DCR will not contain the information they hoped to find.
If you donated before September 2004, the DCR may not contain information about you or the treatment(s) your donation(s) was (were) used in.
If this is you, the DCRSS can undertake a further check of information and records on your request, which may help fill the gaps in the DCR. You can request this in the DCR.
To learn more visit:
Support services
If you donated gametes before September 2004, the law changes may cause distress to you (and your family).
A confidential DCR Support Service (DCRSS) is available to support you and your family, if you need it.
To access support, please contact health.donorconceptionregister@sa.gov.au
Access the DCR
To register as a DCR user now, visit Access the South Australian Donor Conception Register.