Veerle Provoost: Do kids think of sperm donors as family?
Veerle Provoost: As crianças pensam em dadores de esperma como família?
Veerle Provoost studies genetic and social parenthood in the context of donor conception. Full bio
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about the sperm donation?
sobre a doação de esperma?
to as "biological fathers,"
são referidos como "pais biológicos",
be using the word "father?"
usar a palavra "pais?"
about the concept of parenthood.
sobre o conceito de paternidade.
about what I learned
sobre o que aprendi,
what matters most in a family,
o que é mais importante numa família,
looks a little different.
é um pouco diferente.
of dealing with tough questions.
de lidar com perguntas difíceis.
the parents' uncertainties.
as incertezas dos pais.
at Ghent University Hospital,
no Hospital da Universidade de Ghent,
at which we conducted interviews.
em que realizámos entrevistas.
did not have good-quality sperm,
não tinha esperma de boa qualidade,
needed to find sperm elsewhere.
precisavam de encontrar esperma.
like parenthood and family.
como paternidade e família.
philosophical questions
perguntas filosóficas abstratas
abordagem de investigação.
as possible to the interview,
e conteúdo para a entrevista,
if it were an apple tree?
se ela fosse uma macieira?"
for everyone who, in their view,
para cada um que, na opinião deles,
and hang it wherever they wanted.
e pendurá-la onde quisessem.
with a parent or a sibling.
com um dos pais ou um irmão.
started mentioning the donor.
começou por mencionar o doador.
a história dos seus nascimentos:
into the family?"
a essa família?"
who have spare seeds.
que têm sementes a mais.
mentioning the donor,
a mencionar o doador,
using their own words.
usando as suas próprias palavras.
for the friendly man with the seeds,
para o homem simpático com as sementes,
up there with the others.
ali junto das outras.
a minha família.
because my family would not be here,
a minha família não estaria aqui,
constructed family tales --
contos de família
a sua inseminação artificial
a inseminar vacas.
with family narratives.
com narrativas da família.
who made books --
que fizeram livros
throughout the treatment.
e sentimentos ao longo do tratamento.
parking tickets in there.
estacionamento do hospital.
a história da sua família.
and how deeply loved their child was.
era especial e profundamente amado.
that these children are doing fine.
que essas crianças estão indo bem.
more problems than other kids.
que as outras crianças.
to justify their decisions
queriam justificar as suas decisões
would understand their reasons
percebam as suas razões
that their children might disapprove
os filhos pudessem desaprovar
numa sociedade
of one mom, one dad
consistem numa mãe, num pai
geneticamente relacionados.
um garoto adolescente.
mas não fez parte do nosso estudo.
but not part of our study.
with his father,
the parents in our study feared.
os pais do nosso estudo temiam.
and they made up.
e eles fizeram as pazes.
that is most interesting.
foi a reação do pai.
with the lack of a genetic link.
com a falta de uma ligação genética.
is a little different.
é um pouco diferente.
em todas as famílias.
suficientemente bom?"
what's best for their child.
o que era melhor para os filhos.
long before they even were parents.
muito antes mesmo de serem pais.
pela primeira vez,
to the counselor,
ao conselheiro,
fazer as coisas corretamente.
the advice they were given.
do conselho que receberam.
lembravam do conselheiro
de lésbicas que disse:
'Não, não tens pai.'
not unless he asks,
a não ser que ele pergunte,
pronto para isso.
to children's questions.
às perguntas das crianças.
"Leite — isto é feito numa fábrica?"
"Não, isso vem das vacas".
repararam nisso.
and she's made in the same way.
ela é feita da mesma maneira.
I just go and ask her."
pergunto-lhe a ela."
what they had in mind,
o que eles tinham em mente,
it is to be an open-communication family.
haver uma comunicação aberta na família.
we gather evidence first.
primeiro reunimos provas.
what this pill is doing
o que essa pílula está a fazer
that is theoretically sound,
conselho teoricamente sólido
that there is evidence for --
se houver provas,
improves patients' lives.
melhora a vida dos doentes.
would now like to offer you a paradox:
de oferecer um paradoxo:
a deixar de seguir conselhos.
com o que correu mal;
to the warmth we found in those families.
que encontramos nessas famílias.
and the trip to the farmer?
e da viagem à quinta?
para os filhos,
as members of families,
enquanto membros de famílias,
are warm relationships.
são relações calorosas.
professionals to create those.
para criar isso.
we can do with some advice.
podemos faze-lo com algum conselho.
that works for your family.
que funciona para a vossa família.
because you live your family life.
que vivem a vida familiar.
and your creativity,
e criatividade,
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Veerle Provoost - BioethicistVeerle Provoost studies genetic and social parenthood in the context of donor conception.
Why you should listen
Veerle Provoost is a professor at the Bioethics Institute Ghent of Ghent University and a member of the Network on Ethics of Families. For her current research she coordinates a team of researchers who work on a study about genetic and social parenthood in the context of donor conception.
Using empirical research methods and Socratic conversation techniques, Provoost studies how professionals and ordinary people reason about health and how they make decisions in health-related contexts. In her courses on empirical research methods for ethics and bioethics, she teaches students how to look beyond mere experiences or general attitudes and to explore the principles and values that guide people's reasoning and decision-making. Her research shows that patients may bring their own sets of principles when making medical decisions, principles that may be very different from what medical staff anticipated and may feature around moral elements that may completely escape the attention of ethicists. For one, the moral reasoning of everyday people is centered more around relationships than around the principles that are at the core of scholarly bioethics.
In her talk TEDxGhent talk, she explains how we can gain valuable insights from families of children conceived with donor sperm and their views about what a family really is. These alternative families teach us what matters most in the decisions we all make for our children, whether or not they are genetically related to us. The parents and children she studied created their own family stories (about how their families were made) in highly diverse but very creative ways. However, some parents thought that they should strictly follow the advice of experts in their communication with their children. Because of that, they discounted their own competence. Based on her research experience, Provoost warns us for the negative effects of problematizing these families. Because no matter what a family looks like, or how it is made, parents should believe in their abilities and their creativity. As they know their families best, they are the real experts in how to find the best way to tell their own family story to their own child.
Veerle Provoost | Speaker | TED.com