Intergenerational Ties Through the Lens of Third-Party Reproduction

Third-party reproduction often entails a transformation of family dynamics and ties, affecting both the new parents and the third parties who contributed to the child’s conception. Indeed, the connections resulting from egg, sperm or embryo donation, or from surrogacy, do not only link the child to his parents and to the third parties involved. They also form a wider network that includes the ascending generation, namely the parents of donors or surrogates and the parents of those who have had a child through third-party reproduction.

There are a number of things we still don’t know about this older generation. What is the experience of parents of donors or surrogates? How do grandparents whose grandchildren are born through sperm, egg donation or surrogacy develop their grandparental identity? Who is the donor or surrogate for these grandparents? Very few studies have explored these questions, and this project is the first of its kind in Canada and one of the few globally to investigate the experience of parents of donors or surrogates, as well as grandparents in receiving families.

Would you like to take part in the study? Get more information here or contact us directly here.

Funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the project is led by principal investigator Isabel Côté (UQO) and co-investigators Kévin Lavoie (ULaval), Raphaële Noël (UQAM), Katherine Peloquin (UdeM), Sabrina Zeghiche (UQO) and Jerôme Courduriès (Université Toulouse Jean Jaurès).