Veerle Provoost: Do kids think of sperm donors as family?
וירלה פרובוסט: האם ילדים חושבים על תורמי זרע כעל בני משפחה?
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.
about the sperm donation?
to as "biological fathers,"
be using the word "father?"
about the concept of parenthood.
about what I learned
what matters most in a family,
החשובים במשפחה.
looks a little different.
of dealing with tough questions.
להתמודדות עם שאלות קשות.
the parents' uncertainties.
של ההורים.
at Ghent University Hospital,
האוניברסיטאי של גנט,
at which we conducted interviews.
ניהלנו ראיונות.
did not have good-quality sperm,
באיכות טובה,
needed to find sperm elsewhere.
מקור חיצוני לזרע.
like parenthood and family.
הורות ומשפחה.
philosophical questions
אבסטרקטיות,
as possible to the interview,
והתוכן שאני מביאה לראיון,
if it were an apple tree?
עץ תפוחים?
for everyone who, in their view,
כל מי שבעיניהם,
and hang it wherever they wanted.
with a parent or a sibling.
started mentioning the donor.
into the family?"
who have spare seeds.
mentioning the donor,
using their own words.
for the friendly man with the seeds,
up there with the others.
because my family would not be here,
constructed family tales --
with family narratives.
who made books --
throughout the treatment.
במהלך הטיפולים.
parking tickets in there.
בחניון בית החולים.
and how deeply loved their child was.
that these children are doing fine.
שהילדים האלו בסדר גמור.
more problems than other kids.
to justify their decisions
את ההחלטות שלהם,
would understand their reasons
that their children might disapprove
of one mom, one dad
but not part of our study.
אבל לא היה חלק מהמחקר שלנו.
with his father,
the parents in our study feared.
שלנו חששו מפניו.
and they made up.
that is most interesting.
with the lack of a genetic link.
is a little different.
what's best for their child.
את הטוב ביותר עבור ילדם.
long before they even were parents.
הרבה לפני שהם הפכו להורים.
to the counselor,
the advice they were given.
not unless he asks,
to children's questions.
and she's made in the same way.
ועשו אותה באותה דרך.
I just go and ask her."
what they had in mind,
it is to be an open-communication family.
משפחה שמתקשרת בפתיחות.
we gather evidence first.
אנחנו אוספים ראיות קודם לכן.
what this pill is doing
מה התרופה הזאת עושה.
that is theoretically sound,
שהיא תהיה מבוססת באופן תאורטי,
that there is evidence for --
improves patients' lives.
would now like to offer you a paradox:
כעת פרדוקס:
to the warmth we found in those families.
and the trip to the farmer?
as members of families,
are warm relationships.
professionals to create those.
כדי ליצור כאלו יחסים.
we can do with some advice.
that works for your family.
because you live your family life.
את חיי המשפחה שלכם.
and your creativity,
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