ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the understanding of the common anxieties and preoccupations that affect individuals and couples as they endeavour to think through the issues and to decide whether donor conception (DC) is the right way for them to have treatment and to create their family. The Donor Conception Network (DCN) adapted weekend "Preparation for Parenthood" workshops from those pioneered in Germany by Ken Daniels and Petra Thorne. Donor conception can be seen as a real opportunity for a family, but if prospective parents can work towards mourning their losses, it may be easier to relinquish the agony or the shame of their particular circumstances. Assuming that donor conceived people have increasing expectations of tracing their genetic relatives, it is likely to continue to be a driving force for change. It may still be terribly hard though for some DC parents to think about the donor beyond the sum of the gametes they have donated.
