CALIFORNIA CRYOBANK (CCB) Note From Wendy: For those of you who used California Cryobank, and wonder why your donor hasn't yet registered on the DSR, here's a possible reason why: A former California Cryobank donor emailed me about what CCB had just told him about the DSR. He said, "...they were quite strong in their position that I should NOT register [on the DSR] bc there are likely errors with people putting wrong donor id, or even fakes, so that if I register, CBank says there's more than a slim chance I'd be reaching out or opening up to people not really offspring of mine." If you used CCB or are a CCB offspring, I encourage you to let CCB know how you feel about them discouraging donors from posting and connecting on the DSR. This is from the sperm bank who has been known to delete urgent medical information from a donor’s profile? We have been operating since 2000, long before CCB ever thought about having a registry. We spend many thousands of dollars each year to maintain and protect our website and our member's privacy. We have successfully connected more than 19,400 people, with more than 70,000 members. In all that time, and through all those members, we had one single donor impostor, a couple of years ago. I caught him within the first 24 hours. Certainly not worthy of negating our 20 years of hard work and thousands of successful connections! 8/2020 DSR’s Facebook Group I was a donor at California Cryobank who was open to contact and still every time a biological child of mine has reached out they have put up roadblocks. ** My moms used CCB as well and the narrative they/we were given was also that I could reach out when I was 18 etc etc. Well I did when I was about 21/22 and played phone tag with some sort of client relations person who never ended up getting back to me. ...didn't need her to anyway because we found my donor through Ancestry DNA lol. ** We used the CCB and they were very clear that the only potential for contact would be when my daughter turned 18 and then she had to contact them. Even then, when they did locate her donor, all at least initial communication had to occur through email through the CCB. 6/2020 Personal Email Just FYI we still have never had any communication back from CCB, even after Latrice told my son that the donor agreed to written or phone correspondence through her & he wrote a heartfelt letter to the donor, as she requested. I was a donor at California Cryobank who was open to contact and still every time a biological child of mine has reached out they have put up roadblocks. I was a donor at California Cryobank who was open to contact and still every time a biological child of mine has reached out they have put up roadblocks. 11/2019 NBC News Story Scott Brown, vice president of communications for California Cryobank, said. “Family is what we are in the business of, not genetic connection. all in a group together, you definitely feel like you’re with your people,” Ryan Kramer said https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/modern-family-20-plus-sperm-donor-siblings-find-each-other- n1071656?fbclid=IwAR3Y8cF_Qtl6jCSCGi1qkJHWaaJRwUmeOnm9uuK8C9t-8ClvkwA-2rgwj6U 7/2019 DSR Facebook I will almost guarantee you that CCB never attempted to contact your donor. We've had several kids attempt contact through them and our donor reports that he never received any correspondence from them. And his contact info is all up to date. Another issue I had the sperm bank wouldn't allow me to report my live births without the clinic contacting them first and still to this day 6 yrs later I can't register my live births because supposedly the sample wasn't suppose to be shipped out of country and so they can't count my children. 7/2019 Personal Email I wanted to tell you about recent activity with ongoing interactions with CCB. Today I sent an email checking to see if they had reached out to the donor as promised to see if he would have contact with my son or if they could at least ask if we may have a photo. I was told that the donor had agreed over a year ago to correspond by email, but only through CCB. We apparently fell between the cracks. So if I had not felt frustrated enough to follow up again today we would still have no support from CCB. I can’t believe that such an important life event is treated so carelessly. When we told the CCB employee that we would like them to reach out to the donor on our behalf, the email I received back stated that the donor was willing to email my son through CCB. This was the first time we heard this information. I was also given a little lecture on how anonymous donation works & “isn’t it nice that he is willing to email at least, since he has no obligation.” The CCB employee did not produce an email where she told us the donor’s willingness to correspond, nor did she apologize that she thought she sent it, but didn’t. 6/2019 DSR Facebook Page I am in touch with my daughter’s 40 siblings. We were told there was a limit of 20. The cryobank was also notified of severe mitochondrion disease in one child, traces in others and several reports of autism and they kept selling sperm. 4/2019 Personal email and DSR Posting "For anybody that was looking for health updates or genealogy information for their children, I apologize for not posting to the registry sooner. I naively assumed that CCB would have requested updates or actually informed me of any offspring that tried to reach me after turning 18." " My experience with CCB is very similar to what is reported on your website. I remember being explicit that I wanted to be available if any offspring wanted to contact me. Yet they had me listed as anonymous. And I also remember them assuring me that only 5-10 families would be sold to." – CCB Donor 2/2019 Facebook Group I did look at CCB website last night to check. They still sell Anonymous, Open and ID release. Having paid premium pricing for Open (willing to be known) I looked at their new conditions with the third category. I was horrified to discover that the first statement on Open Donors is that it specifically excludes learning the identity of the donor. Not what I had in mind at all. ID Release gives the donor’s identifying details to the 18+ on request. However, amongst other conditions, they now require the DC person to sign a non-disclosure agreement specifically forbidding them to tell their siblings. Otherwise they will refuse to deliver the ID the parents paid for. These conditions and unilateral changes probably would not stand up to challenge under contract law but have not been tested yet. "For anybody that was looking for health updates or genealogy information for their children, I apologize for not posting to the registry sooner. I naively assumed that CCB would have requested updates or actually informed me of any offspring that tried to reach me after turning 18." " My experience with CCB is very similar to what is reported on your website. I remember being explicit that I wanted to be available if any offspring wanted to contact me. Yet they had me listed as anonymous. And I also remember them assuring me that only 5-10 families would be sold to." 2/2019 NY Times and CBS News NW Cryobank and California Cryobank are partners: CBS: Woman uses DNA test, finds sperm donor — and pays a "devastating" price https://www.cbsnews.com/news/woman-finds-sperm-donor-after-using-dna-test-raising-questions-about- donor-anonymity/?fbclid=IwAR0Obec-XMd6mI3xjw_pX3MsLLNphCY1o- 2RIiYn2rFoOhgFpHiFgM_5xyE NY Times: A Mother Learns the Identity of Her Child’s Grandmother. A Sperm Bank Threatens to Sue. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/16/health/sperm-donation-dna-testing.html 9/2018 Facebook Group “I just want to point out though, that we are up to about 15 or so known half-sibs so far and I keep reading here about similar or larger groups from California Cryobank. But I distinctly remember CCB telling me that they “retired” donors after 10 live births were reported. I know for a fact that at least the four moms I am close to reported, and I see no reason why others wouldn’t. It’s in everyone’s best interest. So it’s clear that CCB (and many other banks) lied.” “I used CCB and they told the same to one of the moms. When we reached 12 families she asked again and was told the limit is closer to 25-30. We are getting close to 25 siblings. Our donor is Hispanic and 5'6", so I don't think he is one of the most popular choices.” 4/2018 Personal Email "I was wondering if you could help with the following. Suppose a parent has a donor child, diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Then, one would find out the identity of a sperm donor (when the donor child is still young), only to discover that the donor has autism too, and apparently in a more serious way then the child (meaning, it should have been rather obvious for the donor bank when the donor offered his services).