The Surprise of Donor Siblings
This chapter describes how children respond to learning that they have donor siblings. Children who learn about donor siblings when they are in middle school are more likely to be surprised than those who learn about them as younger children. The chapter also describes how they react to meeting them. One consequence of meeting donor siblings is that children come to believe that traits they share with others might have their origins in the genetic material inherited from an unknown donor. The chapter discusses differences between boys and girls in learning about donor siblings and how children differentiate between their understanding of the meaning of donor siblings and their understanding of the significance of siblings who live with them.