Right to Know Weekly Roundup

Peter Boni, the author of Uprooted, agreed to donate a portion of the proceeds of his book which will be available in January 2022. Just before his fiftieth birthday, Peter’s seventy-five-year-old mother unveiled a bombshell: His deceased father was not his biological father. Peter was conceived via an anonymous sperm donor in 1945. After weeks of searching, we finally matched two women with MPEs with a wonderful therapist in Maine. A person who’s been on their MPE journey for 10 years, reached out for a mentor because no one in their circle understands how much their discovery uprooted their life. Remember, no matter how long ago you made your discovery, there are different times when we need support and Right to Know is here when you need it. Monday we’ll be sending out our first-ever annual report, sign up to receive a copy. We’ve been on four podcasts, featured in numerous articles, hosted 10 webinars, had guided monthly discussions with eight therapists, created a development board, and completed a survey of people with an MPE with 588 respondents. We’ll be sharing some statistics from time to time. For example, 60% said their MPE discovery was completely unexpected, 55% are completely public about their discovery, and 76% said they were glad they know the truth. We want to welcome two new board members Erin Maya and Brad Ewell. Erin is a DCP who is currently writing a musical about donor conception and Brad is an LDA police officer in Dallas, Texas.

We received a generous donation from a doctor who asked his company to match his donation. Thank you! We're registered to have your donation matched by most companies. We met with the wonderful women over at EmPower, an educational company created to increase awareness, empower choice, and foster understanding for everyone involved in embryo donation. A woman reached out on our hotline (323-TALK-MPE) who learned her dad had donated sperm years ago and now many new siblings are contacting her. We appreciate her open heart and are working to find a licensed mental health professional in her state to help her process the huge shift in her family dynamics. If you are looking for a licensed mental health professional in your state, check out our therapist directory. Dr. Colleen Berrysess, a professor of criminology at Rutgers University, will be a guest speaker for our next webinar on Sunday, December 12th  at noon pacific / 3:00 pm eastern time entitled “Not My Parent’s Child – Genetics, DNA Surprises, and Ethical Behaviors.” We’ll be discussing how discovering biological family whose ethics and actions you do not subscribe to impacts you. This is the very complicated intersection of ethics, genetics, criminology, and psychology – a space Dr. Berrysess is very familiar with.

Don’t forget it’s adoptee awareness month in November. And remember, you have a fundamental human right to know your genetic identity.

This week we verified the video Donor Conceived People Voices we sponsored for the ASRM is indeed included in their on-demand content. Our mental health initiatives were recognized in a news article called “Home DNA tests can lead to shock and trauma, but mental health resources are scarce” by Aparna Nathan in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Our mentorship program was created to bolster and guide you during this process. Recently one of our mentors Sabrina Carlin, who by day is an educator, sent a heartfelt note about the impact of volunteering. Thank you Sabrina for everything you do! We met with a number of legislators from Washington state to ensure fertility fraud legislation moves forward in the next session in our home state by introducing a companion bill in the House. We are excited to be working with Professor Jennifer Gogarten who is a lecturer at the Institute for Public Health Genetics at the University of Washington.

This week Arlene, who's in her 70s, found her biological father after 10 years of searching. If you're still searching - don't give up hope. Watch the video "DCP Voices for ASRM Panel on Open Identity" that Right to Know advocated for which was included in ASRM's on-demand content for the Scientific Congress. We have a new volunteer to assist with our MPE Counseling Directory of therapists with experience treating traumas associated with misattributed parentage. And, we finalized proposed fertility fraud legislation for the state of Michigan which will be introduced by Representative Roth soon. Reach out to us at [email protected] or call 323-TALK MPE if you need to chat with someone who also had a DNA surprise, need advice about resources (finding bio family, genetic counselor, or therapist), or would like to be paired with a mentor.