From clicks to creating kin: how Australian online egg donors craft relationships with recipients and donor-conceived children

Anonymous egg donation is prohibited in Australia, with all states allowing donor-conceived people (DCPs) to access their donor's identity at age 18 or 16, depending on the state. However, early contact, well before age 18, is becoming more common. A key driver of this trend is recipients' and donors' use of online platforms (OPs) like Facebook to find one another, enabling donor-recipient contact before donation and/or after the donor-conceived children are born. This study reports on interviews with 24 egg donors who met recipients via OPs and had early contact post-birth. Using reflexive thematic analysis, the study found that donors were primarily motivated by empathy and saw donation as a relational act. They selected recipients with shared values around early contact and negotiated post-birth relationships. Early contact often led to meaningful kinship connections, with relationships described using extended family terms. The donor-recipient relationship unfolded as a progressive relational model: motivations informed recipient choice and contact expectations, and early contact deepened relational bonds. However, some donors experienced relationship breakdowns with recipients, illustrating the emotional complexity of (early) contact, even when agreed to. Findings underscore the importance of psychosocial support to ensure donor conception practices promote the wellbeing of all parties involved.