Guides/Updated
A role says who you are on Pedigree: sperm donor, egg donor, surrogate, co-parent, partner or hopeful parent. A member can hold more than one. Alongside the role, each profile says what the member is looking for and what they hope for: how involved they expect to be after birth, which methods they are open to, and their timeline.
This is general information to help you ask good questions. It is not medical or legal advice, and it cannot take your own situation into account. For that, speak to a doctor, a fertility clinic or a family lawyer where you live.
The six roles
- Sperm donor and egg donor: someone who helps another person or couple have a child. In known donation the donor and the hopeful parents know each other, and decide together how much contact there will be later.
- Surrogate: someone who carries a child for hopeful parents. Surrogates and hopeful parents can meet on Pedigree and get to know each other. Pedigree does not arrange surrogacy.
- Co-parent: someone who raises a child together with another person without needing to be a couple. Both expect to be parents in the full sense: sharing time, decisions and costs.
- Partner: someone looking for a partner to build a family with.
- Hopeful parent: someone who wants a child and is looking for the person who can help.
Involvement: what happens after birth
Involvement is the first thing to be honest about. A profile can say one of five things:
- Full co-parent.
- Regular contact.
- Occasional contact.
- Known, no contact.
- Open to discuss.
Method and timeline
Members also say which routes to conception they are open to, including going through a clinic, and whether they are open to discussing it. Going through a clinic and not going through one can differ in the screening involved and in how the law treats everyone afterwards. A doctor and a family lawyer can tell you what applies to you.
A timeline says how soon: ready now, within 6 months, within a year, or exploring.
What a role does not decide
The law may give a known donor, a surrogate or a co-parent rights or responsibilities whatever two people intend, and this varies by place and by how conception happens. Surrogacy law in particular differs sharply from place to place. Everyone involved needs their own legal advice before anything is agreed, and the medical side belongs with a clinic.
How Pedigree helps
- Roles and intent are on every profile.
- Filters and the Explore tabs sort members by role.
- Questions and answers in Resources are written for donors, hopeful parents, co-parents and surrogates.
- Nobody on Pedigree may ask for or offer payment for sperm, eggs or surrogacy.
Questions people ask
- Can I have more than one role?
- Yes. A member can hold more than one role, and says separately what they are looking for.
- How is co-parenting different from donation?
- Co-parents both expect to be parents in the full sense, sharing time, decisions and costs, so the conversations are bigger: where the child will live, how time and money are shared, schooling, beliefs, new partners, and what happens if someone moves or you disagree.
- As a donor, how involved am I expected to be?
- That is for you and the other person to decide, and it is the first thing to be honest about. A family lawyer can tell you where you would stand, because the law may give a known donor rights or responsibilities whatever two people intend.