ABSTRACT
This chapter draws on the growing body of research and knowledge that is available to assist families explore relationships, communication, and boundaries in a more liberated age, an age in which parents are not burdened with keeping secrets from their offspring concerning the family history. The relationships between the three parties are of critical importance to the health and well-being of the family. The chapter looks at who constitutes family, genetic and social factors as they relate to families, and the involvement of a third party in the family. The central relationships in gamete donation families will be considered by looking at the donor and the parents, the donor and the offspring, and the offspring and the donor's family. In gamete donation families, one partner has a genetic connection and the other a socio-cultural connection. The chapter concludes with a discussion of relationship management as a key to healthy and well functioning families.
