Surrogacy, adoption and foStering
Wanting to start a family can present a host of daunting options,
but Pride Angel have just the support you need
Guardian angels
W
hen Karen and her partner decided to start a family,
the most obvious option for them as a same-sex
couple seemed to be an anonymous sperm donor
through a sperm bank.
But Karen wanted her child to know the father’s identity, and
she also wanted to know more about the donor’s personality
and general health. Following a year of discussion, they opted
for a friend of the family as donor, and after health tests the
inseminations began.
Three months later Karen was pregnant and the couple now
have a wonderful, happy nine-year-old daughter. The result was all
they had hoped for, but Karen recalls that the whole experience of
planning their baby was an immensely stressful time.
With this fresh in her mind, Karen teemed up with fellow
scientist Erika to form Pride Angel, a service that provides
couples with all the advice and support that she wishes she had
been able to access herself.
As Erika points out, many women are looking for gay men,
either single or in a couple, who are willing to co-parent or donate
sperm, with ongoing contact in some form.
Gathering expertise from fertility lawyers, fertility clinics,
nutrition specialists and using their own knowledge of health
screening, they provide everything you need to know, from
insemination procedures to the right legal advice.
Pride Angel now has more than 35,000 members, and
through its professional connection service, allows you to add
your personal profile as a sperm donor, egg donor, co-parent or
recipient, and search their worldwide database.
The site avoids high set-up fees and monthly subscriptions
by using a message credit system, and you can get to know
members through viewing profiles and photographs, as well as
exchanging messages. Completing and viewing health
questionnaires gets the basics dealt with easily.
Alongside being a mine of information on surrogacy,
adoption and fostering, the Pride Angel site is also a valuable
resource on such issues as when and how to tell your child they
are donor conceived, and how to tell children in your own family
about your donation.
Most importantly, Pride Angel provides a highly supportive
and safe environment for you to interact with other members –
creating a profile, searching members and communicating
safely using on-site mail – to find your parenting match.
Prideangel.com
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‘We’d like to see far
more gay men coming
forward to donate
sperm… many women
feel they would be more
sensitive or caring, or
easier to co-parent with.’
Erika
