Donor Family Limits

perkyshinsperkyshins Posts: 31
in Ask California Cryobank

Hello,

We currently have a child with donor 15802. He has been active since 2019 and appears to continue donating even into this year. I believe the limit is 25 live births but given that he is releasing 25 vials per round and has released over 4 rounds at this point, the 25 family limit is likely to be exceeding.

I found this quote from a post long ago - "We also do our best to monitor pregnancies (which includes factoring in stored vials) and will stop selling to new clients should a donor's reported pregnancies reach a certain point. On average, it ends up being closer to about 12-15 families per donor." from a previous admin. Is this still the policy? I understand that he is a popular donor and therefore it is lucrative to keep him active but this seems to be counterproductive to the children that will be born from this donor.

Thanks

Comments

  • Hammonds creationsHammonds creations Posts: 110

    I know my original donor choice had more than 25 and he is still avalible right now with full vials. He has 5 in my state alone and I'm overseas. He's been on the list since 2016 @perkyshins

  • perkyshinsperkyshins Posts: 31

    Wow that is ridiculous @Hammonds creations ! 2016!! That is unbelievable. Hopefully, the donor is not active and just hasn't had many takers on his vials? I hope that CCB keeps their word and retires these donors once the limit is reached :/ These kids will otherwise be at risk of having over 50+ siblings which may be a lot for the children to handle let alone a donor being available to answer questions of 50+ of his kids.

  • Hammonds creationsHammonds creations Posts: 110

    It happens, the other problem is they rely on people to self report. I've asked this question to the Facebook groups and have had women respond they are aware of larger end of numbers of ccb diblings. In saying that, Xytex is one of the worst for this.. I spoke to a woman her daughter is 7 years old with 140 diblings! Each bank is different and I picked CCB because it has a lot more clear cut viewable information.

    The donor im actually pregnant with has at least 7 of us now since November last year! That's just the ones who we know about. I can only imagine how high that will grow.

    Until banks are held to limits legally its up to them to cap ethically.

  • StayPositiveStayPositive Posts: 32

    Hi @Hammonds creations Just wondered about the Facebook groups you mentioned. Is that for your specific donor or for anyone who has used a donor from CCB? I'd love to connect with people.

  • Hammonds creationsHammonds creations Posts: 110

    @StayPositive both are open to all families using ccb and are great to connect and ask questions on your journey!

    https://m.facebook.com/groups/351724625267597/?tsid=0.19848509669490233&source=result

    And

    https://m.facebook.com/groups/CCBFriends/?tsid=0.5735517782227619&source=result

  • perkyshinsperkyshins Posts: 31

    Thanks @Hammonds creations for the links and information. 140 dibling is ridiculous. I believe the kids deserve better than that and more regulations should be put in place for these banks. This is definitely disappointing to hear. I know we don't have control over these situations but it's hard as recipient parents to be so reliant on people to do the right thing (i.e the bank to actually cap at 25, parents to report pregnancies, and donors to know when enough is enough :/)

    @cryo-admin can I get an answer to my question in the original post?

  • cryo-admincryo-admin Posts: 4,547

    Hi @perkyshins,

    Our maximum goal is 25-30 family units worldwide which is well under the ASRM guidelines of number of offspring per donor. And yes, on average it ends up being closer to 12-15 families per donor.

    We do limit our donor's participation in our program, and it's important to note that some donors' schedules result in them coming in less frequently over a longer period of time. Donor program closures during the height of the pandemic also disrupted our typical timeline a bit. Please also keep in mind that donors aren't only coming in to provide donations, but are also coming in for routine blood work and physicals.

    Our family unit limit policy applies to all donors regardless of how popular they are. As you can see from our Bulletin Boards, it's fairly common to see clients looking for more vials because their donor is sold out. Donors may also be limited for sibling use meaning only clients with reported pregnancies/births are able to purchase additional vials.

    Right now it's not certain if Donor 15802 will have additional vials released or not. At the moment, vial inventory would be available to anyone, but over time that's likely to change to only clients with reported pregnancies/births.

    Also, we can share if a donor has more or less than 5 reported pregnancies or births. Donor 15802 currently has more than 5 reported pregnancies and less than 5 reported births.

    Regards,

    Nicole
    California Cryobank

  • perkyshinsperkyshins Posts: 31

    Thank you @cryo-admin for your response! You mentioned 15802 has had over 5 pregnancies but under 5 live births. Which number counts towards the family limit? (i.e if he has say 25 reported pregnancies and 10 live births, how does the bank deal with that?)

    Also, that is helpful to know about donor 15802. That donor's participation hasn't been limited given that he released multiple batches a year but it's interesting to note that that may be the case for other donors.

  • cryo-admincryo-admin Posts: 4,547

    @perkyshins You're welcome! We look at number of reported pregnancies knowing that not all clients report births and pregnancy losses in a timely manner, but our maximum goal is measured in family units as we do have families that opt to have more than one child with the same donor.

    The majority of our donors have multiple batches of vials released periodically, one reason being that all vials are quarantined for a minimum of 6 months while repeat infectious disease testing is performed. It usually takes a year from when an applicants starts our program to when vials first become available for sale. I don't think most people realize how lengthy the sperm donor process is.

    I also wanted to mention that we have an entire Donor Department and Genetics Department that manages every detail when it comes to a donor's participation in our program and monitoring pregnancies and family units. Limiting family units is especially important to our reproductive genetic specialists who manage medical updates reported by our donors and families and inform families if there is any new medical information that would be relevant to their child. Our company was started by physicians so we have a strong focus on scientific excellence and the well-being of our donors, clients,
    and their children.

    Hope this info helps!

    Regards,

    Nicole
    California Cryobank

  • perkyshinsperkyshins Posts: 31

    Thanks Nicole, that is helpful information!

  • Maggiej13Maggiej13 Posts: 71

    @cryo-admin Thank you for responding regarding the family limits. At what number children/families does CCB limit vial purchases to sibling use only? Does CCB use the sibling registry for family numbers or just the reporting under our own personal accounts? On 15802's sibling registry, there are 6 listed siblings from 6 different families. We currently stand at 9 total known births from 9 different families. Those totals do not include current unknown pregnancies or upcoming births from those families who purchased vials during the donor's last release in December 2020. I know you mentioned there may not be an additional release for our donor, but if so, are we at or approaching the total family limit where CCB can limit the vials for sibling use only?

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