Family Limits – Your Options Explained

At Seattle Sperm Bank, we pride ourselves on offering a diverse group of donors to meet the growing demand from families seeking to conceive through sperm donation. Our standard operating procedure limits us to a maximum of 25 families per sperm donor in the entire United States. This family limit policy is consistent with practices observed across sperm banks nationwide.

We help many clients create happy, healthy families each day with the use of donors in our program, but understand it may not be the right option for everyone. Here we explore the different options you have with Seattle Sperm Bank when it comes to the type of donor and what the family limits are for each option.

Open ID Donors

SSB offers exclusively Open ID donors, meaning a donor-conceived person would have the option to connect with their donor at the age of 18. The FDA classifies donors who you have not met in person, regardless of Open ID status, as anonymous. Due to the FDA classification, these donors have different testing requirements and a 6-month quarantine period as specified by the FDA. Family limits on anonymous donors is 25 families per donor in the US. Additionally, if donors are also selected for international distribution, we adhere strictly to country-specific guidelines regarding family limits.

Family limits for these donors are closely monitored and confirmed through pregnancy and birth reporting from recipient parents. Except in the case of donors with family slots, where limits are tracked through the purchase of vials instead of pregnancy and birth reporting.

Exclusive Donors

We offer exclusive donors who have very limited families. These donors are also classified as anonymous but have different family limits from many donors found on our site. Limits range from a single family worldwide, a single family in the US, or 10 families worldwide. Each of these donors are a bit unique as it depends on how the donor is being distributed and if their available inventory can support multiple families.

A limitation to using an exclusive donor is cost. A single family, or few families would be purchasing all available vials, making the cost higher than purchasing a few vials from our standard SSB donors. There are financing options you can consider if having this kind of exclusivity is important for your family building goals.

You can review SSB Exclusive donors here.

Directed Donors

If having lower family limits is important, another option to consider is a directed donor. This would be someone who you know personally who has agreed to become a sperm donor for you. The FDA specifies testing and screening for this type of tissue donation. Our lab is experienced and prepared to assist with the required testing and any additional testing that would be beneficial to know for your treatment plans – such as semen analysis. Additionally, we will collect multiple samples and freeze them, making them ready for your treatment plans at any time.

An added benefit that comes with a directed donor is you know this person and can create a different relationship with them and your donor-conceived children. However, we highly advise meeting with legal counsel to protect your parental rights and legally specify how you want this relationship to look during pregnancy and in the future. It is also recommended that counseling be sought for both parties involved to make sure everyone is comfortable with the impact of this donation and what is expected in the future.

A limitation to using a directed donor would be access to the lab. Your chosen donor would have to visit us in person. We have lab locations in Seattle and Bellevue, WA, San Diego, CA, Las Vegas, NV, Phoenix, AZ, and Denver, CO. There could be an added cost if your donor must make additional travel arrangements for an in-person visit, but we do our best to accommodate any outside testing and screening to make this a feasible option.

You can find out more information about using a directed donor here.

Our mission is to provide personalized access of care to any individual or couples looking to having a child with the use of a sperm donor. You can always schedule a free one-on-one donor consultation with us to learn more about how we can accommodate your goals, or if you have any questions about your options with us.