Child development and family relationships in families following ART

This review article focusses on child development and family relationships in families formed through third-party assisted reproductive technologies (ART). First, we provide an overview of the existing developmental research on families formed through sperm donation, egg donation, embryo donation, and surrogacy, respectively. We then consider some of the cross-cutting themes and issues in families following different types of ART, such as the role of openness and disclosure, and making donor connections, that relate to family relationships and children’s outcomes. Finally, we reflect on some of the conceptual and methodological limitations of the current research, including its dependence on relatively homogenous samples, and its relative inattention to culture. We conclude by outlining some of the new directions for research in this area.