When a child asks, “Where do babies come from?,” parents who have conceived through sperm donation have to decide whether they will disclose the circumstances of the child’s conception. Disclosure brings up major relational and ethical issues that need to be taken into account in order to better support these families. Various methods can be used to facilitate discussion and tell the child the story of their conception. Parents and practitioners often use children’s books because stories easily fit into bedtime routines. These books help explain assisted reproduction using words and pictures that kids of all ages can understand, which makes it easer to start a conversation on the subject. However, physical and digital supports are rarely available in French and rarely tailored to the cultural context of Quebec—a problem noted by practitioners who support parents who plan to tell their children about the circumstances of their conception. This is why the director of the Ensemble psychology clinic wanted to look into providing children’s literature to support children conceived via sperm donation as they develop their identity.

This participatory research project was conducted by a research team made up of a clinical psychologist, five mothers who conceived using sperm donation, three researchers, and two research assistants, along with a writer. This brought together professional, experiential, scholarly and artistic knowledge in order to develop a children’s book on the topic.

This research project was co-led by principal investigator Kévin Lavoie (U Laval) and Marie-Alexia Allard, co-director of the Ensemble psychology clinic, along with co-researchers Isabel Côté (UQO) and Raphaële Noël (UQAM); Juliana Léveillé-Trudel, writer and director of Productions de Brousse; and five parents who are members of the research collective.

This project was made possible thanks to financial support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) [Partnership Engage, 2020–2021].