Veerle Provoost: Do kids think of sperm donors as family?
Veerle Provoost: ¿Ven los niños a los donadores de esperma como parte de su familia?
Veerle Provoost studies genetic and social parenthood in the context of donor conception. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
enfrentan preguntas difíciles
about the sperm donation?
lo de la donación de esperma?
to as "biological fathers,"
se les suele llamar,
usar la palabra "padre"?
be using the word "father?"
about the concept of parenthood.
sobre el concepto de paternidad.
about what I learned
de lo que aprendí
what matters most in a family,
lo que más importa en una familia,
sean un poco diferentes.
looks a little different.
of dealing with tough questions.
de lidiar con preguntas difíciles.
the parents' uncertainties.
las incertidumbres de los padres.
tratamientos de fertilidad
at Ghent University Hospital,
at which we conducted interviews.
realizamos entrevistas.
did not have good-quality sperm,
no tenía esperma de calidad,
needed to find sperm elsewhere.
buscaban esperma en otro lugar.
like parenthood and family.
como paternidad y familia.
philosophical questions
abstractas y filosóficas
el manzano está vacío.
as possible to the interview,
contenido o significado a la entrevista,
de ellos ese contenido.
if it were an apple tree?
si fuera un manzano?
for everyone who, in their view,
para cada persona que, a su parecer,
and hang it wherever they wanted.
y colgarla dónde quisieran,
with a parent or a sibling.
con los padres o hermanos.
started mentioning the donor.
había mencionado el donante.
de su historia de nacimiento.
into the family?"
como llegaste a la familia?
who have spare seeds.
por ahí con semillas sobrantes.
y allí estaba yo."
mentioning the donor,
a mencionar el donante,
usando sus propias palabras.
using their own words.
para el hombre amable con las semillas,
for the friendly man with the seeds,
up there with the others.
because my family would not be here,
mi familia no estaría aquí,
constructed family tales --
crearon cuentos de familia;
inseminar a las vacas.
with family narratives.
who made books --
throughout the treatment.
y sentimientos a lo largo del tratamiento.
parking tickets in there.
de estacionamiento del hospital.
de familia a tu hijo.
and how deeply loved their child was.
que estos niños están muy bien.
that these children are doing fine.
more problems than other kids.
to justify their decisions
querían justificar sus decisiones
would understand their reasons
comprendieran sus motivos
that their children might disapprove
de que sus hijos pudieran desaprobar
of one mom, one dad
consiste en una madre, un padre
de un adolescente,
aunque no participó en nuestro estudio.
but not part of our study.
with his father,
los padres y madres en nuestro estudio.
the parents in our study feared.
and they made up.
e hicieron las paces.
that is most interesting.
es la reacción del padre.
with the lack of a genetic link.
con la falta de vínculo genético.
is a little different.
es un poco diferente.
what's best for their child.
era hacer lo mejor para sus hijos.
long before they even were parents.
mucho antes de ser padres.
to the counselor,
the advice they were given.
'¿Tengo un padre?',
not unless he asks,
a no ser que nos pregunte,
lo dijo el asesor."
las preguntas de los niños.
to children's questions.
preguntas a mis papás,
and she's made in the same way.
en la escuela, y ella fue hecha igual.
I just go and ask her."
simplemente le pregunto a ella."
what they had in mind,
de ser una familia abierta al diálogo.
it is to be an open-communication family.
antes acumulamos evidencias.
we gather evidence first.
estudios de seguimiento.
what this pill is doing
qué hace la píldora
o que los profesionales den consejos
that is theoretically sound,
that there is evidence for --
sustentados en evidencias;
mejoran la vida de los pacientes.
improves patients' lives.
would now like to offer you a paradox:
le gustaría ofrecerles una paradoja:
al afecto que vimos en esas familias.
to the warmth we found in those families.
and the trip to the farmer?
y la visita al granjero?
lo que les funcionan,
as members of families,
como miembros de una familia,
are warm relationships.
son relaciones afectuosas.
professionals to create those.
profesionales para crearlas.
we can do with some advice.
pueden ser útiles.
that works for your family.
que funcionen para tu familia.
because you live your family life.
porque tú vives tu vida familiar.
and your creativity,
y en tu creatividad,
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