Book Discussion & Community Gathering - for Donor-Conceived People
Sep
4
6:30 PM18:30

Book Discussion & Community Gathering - for Donor-Conceived People

This month, we will use our community dinner time to discuss Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love, written by Dani Shapiro. Bring your own snack or dinner and chat about the book with others in our community. If you are unable to read the full book beforehand, please feel free to join in on the reflection and conversation!

Please RSVP to caitlin@encompassadoptees.org.

About the Book:

What makes us who we are? What combination of memory, history, biology, experience, and that ineffable thing called the soul defines us?

In the spring of 2016, through a genealogy website to which she had whimsically submitted her DNA for analysis, Dani Shapiro received the stunning news that her father was not her biological father. She woke up one morning and her entire history–the life she had lived–crumbled beneath her.

Inheritance is a book about secrets–secrets within families, kept out of shame or self-protectiveness; secrets we keep from one another in the name of love. It is the story of a woman’s urgent quest to unlock the story of her own identity, a story that has been scrupulously hidden from her for more than fifty years, years she had spent writing brilliantly, and compulsively, on themes of identity and family history. It is a book about the extraordinary moment we live in–a moment in which science and technology have outpaced not only medical ethics but also the capacities of the human heart to contend with the consequences of what we discover. — https://danishapiro.com/books/inheritance/

NOTE: Encompass Adoptees encourages critical thinking and reflection on the content we utilize in our groups. Book discussions or reading lists do not imply agreement with all portions of a book, nor do they indicate endorsement of the author/s, their programs, techniques, etc.

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Book Discussion & Support Group - for parents of donor-conceived people (in-person)
Sep
8
6:30 PM18:30

Book Discussion & Support Group - for parents of donor-conceived people (in-person)

Join us for a book discussion and support group for parents of donor-conceived people. We will be reading Random Families: Genetic Strangers, Sperm Donor Siblings, and the Creation of New Kin by Rosanna Hertz and Margaret K. Nelson.

If you are expecting, a new parent, or raising a child or adult conceived through egg, sperm, or embryo donation, we invite you to join us. All are welcome - this is a space to reflect, share perspectives, and support one another in navigating parenting. See the schedule below for chapters for each book group. Reading is not required, but will be used as a jumping off point for conversation and reflection. If you aren’t able to read the chapters, please still feel free to listen or join for the conversation!

Book discussions are facilitated by Caitlin Day, MSW, LSW, and donor-conceived person, and Allie Michael, donor-conceived person.

NOTE: Encompass Adoptees encourages critical thinking, reflection, and the inclusion of perspectives from the entire family constellation through the content we utilize in our groups. Book discussions or reading lists do not imply agreement with all portions of a book, nor do they indicate endorsement of the author/s, their programs, or techniques.

Schedule

Chapters for each group are below (these are open to change depending on group preferences).

January 13 - Introduction, Chapter 1

February 10 -Chapter 2

March 10 - Chapters 3 & 4

April 7 -Chapter 5

May 12 -Chapter 6

June 9 -Chapter 7

July 14 - Chapter 8

August 11 - Chapter 9

September 8 - Chapter 10, Conclusion

About the book:

Random Families is about the unprecedented families that have grown up at the intersection of new reproductive technologies, social media, and the human desire for belonging. Children of the same donor and their families, with the help of the internet, can now locate each other and make contact. Based on over 350 interviews with children (ages 10-28), their parents and related donors from all over the U.S., Random Families chronicles the chain of choices that couples and single mothers make from what donor to use to how to participate (or not) in donor sibling networks. Children reveal their understanding of a donor, the donor's spot on the family tree and the meaning of their donor siblings. Through rich first-person accounts of network membership, the book illustrates how these extraordinary relationships-woven from bits of online information and shared genetic ties-are transformed into new possibilities for kinship. Random Families offers down-to-earth stories from real families to highlight just how truly distinctive these contemporary new forms of family are.

— https://www.amazon.com/Random-Families-Strangers-Siblings-Creation/dp/019088827X

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