Indirect strategies for disclosing the genetic/gestational origins of children conceived by means of reproductive donation (Spain)

Abstract

This article is based on ethnographic research carried out in Spain, with families who have conceived their children using third-party intervention. It focuses on an aspect of these parents’ strategies regarding disclosure (or non-disclosure) of their children’s origins which has received very little attention in the research in this field: the indirect strategies implemented in contexts beyond the parents-children dyad. The parents use these strategies to establish an environment in which the child can create an image of her or himself as normal and non-exceptional, for which they intervene in their social networks mainly by controlling the information circulating through them and that, therefore, can reach the child. Three main contexts in which the parents implement these strategies have been identified: the extended family, the school, and family associations. The analysis of disclosure (or non-disclosure) strategies in these contexts provides some suggestions to improve professional intervention in this area.