Donor Sibling Registry

Eighteen years ago, Kramer and Ryan founded what has since become the largest online site for the donor-conceived, the Donor Sibling Registry, or DSR. In simplest terms, the DSR is a matching site. People type in their donor number — an anonymous code assigned by the fertility clinic — and connect with others born from sperm or eggs from the same donor. It’s all voluntary, and contact is achieved through mutual consent.

Today, the DSR has more than 60,000 members and has helped connect about 16,000 offspring with their half-siblings or donors. As the site grows, so does the potential for new connections. Ryan has discovered five “new” sisters in just the past four months.

Jennifer Moore, a 55-year-old graphic designer from Loveland, Colo., has two boys conceived with donor sperm. Through the DSR, they have connected with triplet half-siblings in another part of the country.

The boys call one another “bro” and are all very athletic. They are also all “into crazy socks and hats and crazy fashion sense,” Moore said, adding: “As a parent, it has been a bizarre experience having that many clones of your children appear before your eyes.”

Their parents try to get all the half-siblings together at least once a year, Moore said. Though her boys have a father, her exhusband, she wants them to know more about their background and not wonder why they might look or act different from their parents.

“Foundationally, everyone has a right to know where they came from,” she said.

While a growing number of the donorconceived are seeking to connect with half-siblings, it can be harder to find the donors, who may not want to be found. But internet sleuthing and the widespread availability of genetic testing is eroding the guarantee of anonymity they once enjoyed.