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Objective This article explores the interactions and digital practices of people involved in an online community dedicated to surrogacy and egg donation in the province of Québec, Canada. Background Sociodigital networks, with the emergence of platforms such as Facebook groups, provide a space to discuss assisted reproduction, seek advice, offer support, and connect with other Internet users to negotiate and establish a third‐party reproduction agreement. Method This study is based on a long‐term ethnographic field within a Facebook group, and individual interviews conducted with 22 members of this community. The data collected were analyzed inductively according to the principles of grounded theory. Results Three themes emerged from the online interactions and stories of the women we met. First, the publication of intended parents' testimonies is the preferred method of finding a surrogate or egg donor match and is reminiscent of the language and rituals associated with dating sites. Second, the expression of legal and financial concerns occupies a prominent place in the group discussions, given the lack of a legislative framework in this Canadian province and the variability of interpretations of the current legal framework. Third, the choice made by surrogates and donors to be involved in an online community is not random and sometimes indicates of a desire to establish a sense of control over the process and to negotiate the modalities without the presence of an intermediary. Conclusion and implications Facebook groups dedicated to infertility and assisted reproduction appear to be more than simply matchmakers, as the interactions that occur there perform various functions. In the absence of a formal organization dedicated to parents, surrogates, and donors in Québec, the online community becomes a place for information sharing, support, and networking. This offers avenues of intervention for professionals who need to reflect on and consider how online communities dedicated to third‐party reproduction may influence their practice.

Background Research shows that the age of fathers at the time of conception is correlated with detrimental effect for the health of the future offspring. This situation raises ethical questions regarding the priority of the principle of reproductive autonomy of men of advanced age over the well-being of their future offspring. This problem leads to other normative implications such as the value of introducing limits to the use of medically assisted reproduction, and the development of public health interventions. For the moment, this ethical reflection is mostly speculative and calls to open up the discussion. The aim of this research was to survey experts, working in related fields to the topic of advanced paternal age (APA), regarding the top priority ethical issues of this emerging subject. Methods We recruited experts concerned by APA with backgrounds in health sciences, ethics, social work and reproductive medicine. We conducted a modified e-Delphi panel that lasted three rounds to build a consensual list of issues. The last round took the form of structured interviews exploring the results of the previous rounds. Results The top four issues according to the panel are: (1) Should APA be included as a criterion for prenatal genetic screening? (2) Should we raise awareness on reproductive health in relation to the age of fathers? (3) How can health-care providers support patients in the context of APA? (4) How can research inform the public without stigmatizing fathers of advanced age? Conclusions These exploratory results suggest that the issues of how to inform various audiences properly on APA are important concerns for experts. Clinical trial number Not applicable.

Research Framework: In a context characterized by new possibilities for parenthood within societies where family structures are becoming increasingly diverse, the issue of knowing one's origins is currently provoking intense political, social and scientific debates. These debates are emblematic of a more general movement that reflects a growing interest in the question of origins within contemporary patterns of family configuration, whether created by adoption or assisted reproduction. The concept of origins is thus a particularly relevant window shedding light on current social and political issues surrounding the future of adoption, the conditions for assisted reproduction through donation, the legislative framework of surrogacy and the application of biogenetic knowledge, as well as an opportunity to analyze contemporary reconfigurations of kinship and family links.Objectives: To identify the primary issues underlying the discourse on personal origins by outlining the context from which it emerged, and by bringing together the various disciplinary approaches to define its parameters.Methodology: This article is based on the various authors' contributions in this issue, as well as on theoretical and empirical studies that show how the concept of origins is used by those involved in adoption and assisted reproduction. The comparative perspective is chosen for this article.Results: The focus on origins reveals a profound evolution linked to the growing dissociation of procreation from kinship, which appear to be leading to the emergence of \"new\" relationships and actors. The rapid advancement of reproductive technologies is broadening the circumstances, already present in adoption, in which people have children but do not become parents in the legal sense, remaining \"at the edges\" of kinship.Conclusions: The concept of origins provides a particularly rich field for examining current representations and interpretations of the individuals associated with it (birth \"parents\" in adoption, egg and sperm donors, women who have carried a child for others), the narratives that shape them, and the place they occupy (or their absence) in the accounts of those who are adopted or are born through surrogacy.Contribution: This article brings a theoretical and heuristic approach to the concept of origins and demonstrates its relevance for examining the multiple relational realities created by current family arrangements. The articles in this issue all contribute to this examination by reflecting in complementary ways on the question of parentage.

Cadre de la recherche : Dans un contexte caractérisé par de nouvelles aspirations à la parentalité, au sein de sociétés où les formes familiales se diversifient, la question des origines suscite actuellement d’intenses débats politiques, sociaux et scientifiques. Ces débats sont emblématiques d’un mouvement plus général, qui témoigne d’une attention croissante à la question des origines dans les modes actuels de constitution des familles, qu’il s’agisse de l’adoption ou de la procréation assistée par autrui. La notion d’origine apparaît alors comme une entrée particulièrement pertinente pour éclairer les enjeux sociaux et politiques que soulèvent aujourd’hui le devenir de l’adoption, les conditions du recours à la procréation assistée avec don, l’encadrement législatif de la gestation pour autrui ou les usages des savoirs biogénétiques, ainsi que pour analyser les reconfigurations contemporaines de la parenté et des liens familiaux.Objectifs : Cet article a pour objectif de cerner les principaux enjeux qui sous-tendent la question des origines en retraçant les conditions d’émergence des discours sur le sujet de même qu’en faisant dialoguer les différents apports disciplinaires permettant d’en délimiter les contours.Méthodologie : Cet article s’appuie sur les différentes contributions des auteurs et autrices du numéro, de même que sur les travaux théoriques et empiriques qui retracent comment la question des origines est mobilisée par les personnes concernées par l’adoption de même que par la procréation assistée par autrui. Pour en rendre compte, la perspective comparative est valorisée.Résultats : L’attention aux origines révèle une évolution profonde liée à la dissociation croissante de la procréation et de la parenté, d’où semblent émerger des relations et des figures « nouvelles ». L’essor des technologies de la reproduction rend aujourd’hui plus nombreuses les circonstances, déjà présentes dans l’adoption, où des personnes procréent, mais ne deviennent pas – au sens légal - des parents, demeurant « aux marges » de la parenté.Conclusion : La notion d’origines offre un lieu d’examen particulièrement fécond des représentations et interprétations actuelles concernant les figures de l’origine (« parents » de naissance dans l’adoption, donneurs et donneuses de gamètes, femmes ayant porté un enfant pour autrui), les récits qui les constituent, la place qu’elles occupent (ou non) dans l’histoire des individus adoptés ou nés de la procréation par autrui. Contribution : Cet article apporte une réflexion théorique et heuristique sur la notion des origines tout en témoignant de sa pertinence pour réfléchir aux réalités relationnelles plurielles induites par les configurations familiales actuelles. L’ensemble des articles de ce numéro participe à cette réflexion en interrogeant la question des origines de manière complémentaire.

Research Framework : In Quebec, a child conceived through a surrogate pregnancy has initially as parents the woman who gave birth to him and the man (or one of the men) who instigated the parental project. To establish filiation with the non-statutory parent, adoption by special consent has been the route used for many years.Objectives : This article aims to identify the issues that the use of adoption by special consent as a modality of affiliation in the context of surrogacy can generate during pregnancy and at the time of delivery, but also in the organization of family life in the postnatal period.Methodology: The data presented are drawn from two qualitative research studies that gathered the experiences of people directly involved in a surrogacy arrangement through individual interviews. Forty-seven participants (n = 47) were interviewed, including twelve heterosexual parents, seventeen gay fathers, and eighteen surrogates. Data were subjected to secondary analysis by thematization.Results: The results are broken down into three moments that punctuate the surrogacy process: 1) the intended parents’ sense of filiation and the surrogates’ refusal of maternal status, expressed as soon as the parental project is formulated and reiterated during the pregnancy; 2) the designation of the legal mother at the time of delivery; and 3) the families’ experience of public institutions in the postnatal period.Conclusions : The period of uncertainty leading up to adoption by special consent weakens the experience of the intended parents that we encountered, in addition to entailing risks for the surrogates and the children thus born in the event of conflicts or dissolution of the agreement.Contribution : The use of adoption by special consent in the context of surrogacy has been studied mainly from a legal perspective, through the study of family law judgments. This study allowed us to understand the issues underlying this form of affiliation, which has been used for some time in Quebec in the absence of a legal framework for surrogacy.

Research Framework: In a context characterized by new possibilities for parenthood within societies where family structures are becoming increasingly diverse, the issue of knowing one's origins is currently provoking intense political, social and scientific debates. These debates are emblematic of a more general movement that reflects a growing interest in the question of origins within contemporary patterns of family configuration, whether created by adoption or assisted reproduction. The concept of origins is thus a particularly relevant window shedding light on current social and political issues surrounding the future of adoption, the conditions for assisted reproduction through donation, the legislative framework of surrogacy and the application of biogenetic knowledge, as well as an opportunity to analyze contemporary reconfigurations of kinship and family links.Objectives: To identify the primary issues underlying the discourse on personal origins by outlining the context from which it emerged, and by bringing together the various disciplinary approaches to define its parameters.Methodology: This article is based on the various authors' contributions in this issue, as well as on theoretical and empirical studies that show how the concept of origins is used by those involved in adoption and assisted reproduction. The comparative perspective is chosen for this article.Results: The focus on origins reveals a profound evolution linked to the growing dissociation of procreation from kinship, which appear to be leading to the emergence of \"new\" relationships and actors. The rapid advancement of reproductive technologies is broadening the circumstances, already present in adoption, in which people have children but do not become parents in the legal sense, remaining \"at the edges\" of kinship.Conclusions: The concept of origins provides a particularly rich field for examining current representations and interpretations of the individuals associated with it (birth \"parents\" in adoption, egg and sperm donors, women who have carried a child for others), the narratives that shape them, and the place they occupy (or their absence) in the accounts of those who are adopted or are born through surrogacy.Contribution: This article brings a theoretical and heuristic approach to the concept of origins and demonstrates its relevance for examining the multiple relational realities created by current family arrangements. The articles in this issue all contribute to this examination by reflecting in complementary ways on the question of parentage.

Research Framework: In a context characterized by new possibilities for parenthood within societies where family structures are becoming increasingly diverse, the issue of knowing one's origins is currently provoking intense political, social and scientific debates. These debates are emblematic of a more general movement that reflects a growing interest in the question of origins within contemporary patterns of family configuration, whether created by adoption or assisted reproduction. The concept of origins is thus a particularly relevant window shedding light on current social and political issues surrounding the future of adoption, the conditions for assisted reproduction through donation, the legislative framework of surrogacy and the application of biogenetic knowledge, as well as an opportunity to analyze contemporary reconfigurations of kinship and family links.Objectives: To identify the primary issues underlying the discourse on personal origins by outlining the context from which it emerged, and by bringing together the various disciplinary approaches to define its parameters.Methodology: This article is based on the various authors' contributions in this issue, as well as on theoretical and empirical studies that show how the concept of origins is used by those involved in adoption and assisted reproduction. The comparative perspective is chosen for this article.Results: The focus on origins reveals a profound evolution linked to the growing dissociation of procreation from kinship, which appear to be leading to the emergence of \"new\" relationships and actors. The rapid advancement of reproductive technologies is broadening the circumstances, already present in adoption, in which people have children but do not become parents in the legal sense, remaining \"at the edges\" of kinship.Conclusions: The concept of origins provides a particularly rich field for examining current representations and interpretations of the individuals associated with it (birth \"parents\" in adoption, egg and sperm donors, women who have carried a child for others), the narratives that shape them, and the place they occupy (or their absence) in the accounts of those who are adopted or are born through surrogacy.Contribution: This article brings a theoretical and heuristic approach to the concept of origins and demonstrates its relevance for examining the multiple relational realities created by current family arrangements. The articles in this issue all contribute to this examination by reflecting in complementary ways on the question of parentage.

Cadre de la recherche : Au Québec, un enfant conçu dans le cadre d’une grossesse pour autrui (GPA) a initialement comme parents la femme qui lui a donné naissance et l’homme (ou l’un des hommes) à l’origine du projet parental. Pour que sa filiation soit établie avec le parent non statutaire, l’adoption par consentement spécial a été la voie utilisée pendant de nombreuses années.Objectifs : Le présent article vise à dégager les enjeux que le recours à l’adoption par consentement spécial comme modalité d’affiliation en contexte de GPA peut engendrer pendant la grossesse et au moment de l’accouchement, mais aussi dans l’organisation de la vie familiale en période postnatale.Méthodologie : Les données présentées sont issues de deux recherches qualitatives ayant recueilli les expériences des personnes directement impliquées dans une entente de GPA lors d’entrevues individuelles. Quarante-sept personnes (n = 47) ont été rencontrées, soit douze parents hétérosexuels, dix-sept pères gais et dix-huit femmes porteuses. Les données ont fait l’objet d’une analyse secondaire par thématisation.Résultats : Les résultats se déclinent selon trois moments qui ponctuent le processus de GPA, soit 1) le sentiment de filiation des parents d’intention et le refus de la femme porteuse d’un statut de mère exprimé dès la formulation du projet parental et réitéré pendant la grossesse ; 2) la désignation de la mère légale au moment de l’accouchement ; et 3) le vécu des familles face aux institutions publiques en période postnatale.Conclusions : La période de flottement menant à l’adoption par consentement spécial fragilise l’expérience des parents d’intention rencontrés, en plus de comporter des risques pour les femmes porteuses et les enfants ainsi nés en cas de conflits ou de dissolution de l’entente.Contribution : Le recours à l’adoption par consentement spécial en contexte de GPA a surtout été étudié sous l’angle juridique, à travers l’analyse de jugements en matière familiale. Cette étude a permis de saisir les enjeux sous-jacents à cette modalité d’affiliation mobilisée durant une certaine période au Québec en l’absence d’encadrement légal de la GPA.

Depuis 2002, la concrétisation d’un projet parental par procréation assistée par autrui en contexte privé est une avenue possible et reconnue au Québec. Un couple lesbien peut ainsi procéder en dehors du système médical en ayant recours à un don de sperme d’un homme qui acceptera d’agir comme donneur, sans que ce dernier soit reconnu légalement comme un père. Dans un tel contexte, l’annonce aux enfants de l’identité de l’homme à l’origine de leur conception soulève des défis particuliers. Cet article restitue des données qualitatives obtenues dans le cadre d’une étude longitudinale menée auprès de quatorze familles québécoises, dix de mères lesbiennes et quatre de donneurs, à propos de ce point tournant de leurs trajectoires familiales. Les résultats montrent que les adultes concernés déploient différentes stratégies de divulgation, lesquelles varient en termes de proactivité. Ils doivent aussi s’entendre sur l’information à transmettre et faire face aux enjeux relationnels soulevés par l’annonce. La compréhension des enfants des liens biologiques qui les unissent au donneur ne semble pas, du point de vue des adultes concernés, créer des attentes particulières. Les enfants témoignent d’une certaine curiosité, mais sans que cela vienne avec des impératifs d’implication plus soutenue du donneur dans leur vie. Since 2002, a parental project involving assisted procreation in a private context has been a possible and recognized in Quebec. A lesbian couple can thus proceed outside the medical system by receiving a sperm donation from a man who agrees to act as a donor, without being legally recognized as a father. In such a context, telling children the identity of the man involved in conceiving them raises particular challenges. This article presents qualitative data obtained from a longitudinal study of fourteen Quebec families, ten of lesbian mothers and four of donors, on this turning point in their family trajectories. The results show that the adults involved deploy different disclosure strategies, which vary in proactivity. They must also agree on the information to be conveyed and deal with the relational issues raised by the disclosure. The children’s understanding of their biological relationship with the donor does not seem, from the point of view of the adults involved, to create any particular expectations. The children show a certain curiosity, but this does not come with the imperatives of a more sustained involvement of the donor in their lives.

In a context characterized by new possibilities for parenthood within societies where family structures are becoming increasingly diverse, the issue of knowing one's origins is currently provoking intense political, social and scientific debates. These debates are emblematic of a more general movement that reflects a growing interest in the question of origins within contemporary patterns of family configuration, whether created by adoption or assisted reproduction. The concept of origins is thus a particularly relevant window shedding light on current social and political issues surrounding the future of adoption, the conditions for assisted reproduction through donation, the legislative framework of surrogacy and the application of biogenetic knowledge, as well as an opportunity to analyze contemporary reconfigurations of kinship and family links. To identify the primary issues underlying the discourse on personal origins by outlining the context from which it emerged, and by bringing together the various disciplinary approaches to define its parameters. This article is based on the various authors' contributions in this issue, as well as on theoretical and empirical studies that show how the concept of origins is used by those involved in adoption and assisted reproduction. The comparative perspective is chosen for this article.The focus on origins reveals a profound evolution linked to the growing dissociation of procreation from kinship, which appear to be leading to the emergence of \"new\" relationships and actors. The rapid advancement of reproductive technologies is broadening the circumstances, already present in adoption, in which people have children but do not become parents in the legal sense, remaining \"at the edges\" of kinship.Conclusions: The concept of origins provides a particularly rich field for examining current representations and interpretations of the individuals associated with it (birth \"parents\" in adoption, egg and sperm donors, women who have carried a child for others), the narratives that shape them, and the place they occupy (or their absence) in the accounts of those who are adopted or are born through surrogacy. Dans un contexte caractérisé par de nouvelles aspirations à la parentalité, au sein de sociétés où les formes familiales se diversifient, la question des origines suscite actuellement d’intenses débats politiques, sociaux et scientifiques. Ces débats sont emblématiques d’un mouvement plus général, qui témoigne d’une attention croissante à la question des origines dans les modes actuels de constitution des familles, qu’il s’agisse de l’adoption ou de la procréation assistée par autrui. La notion d’origine apparaît alors comme une entrée particulièrement pertinente pour éclairer les enjeux sociaux et politiques que soulèvent aujourd’hui le devenir de l’adoption, les conditions du recours à la procréation assistée avec don, l’encadrement législatif de la gestation pour autrui ou les usages des savoirs biogénétiques, ainsi que pour analyser les reconfigurations contemporaines de la parenté et des liens familiaux.Cet article a pour objectif de cerner les principaux enjeux qui sous-tendent la question des origines en retraçant les conditions d’émergence des discours sur le sujet de même qu’en faisant dialoguer les différents apports disciplinaires permettant d’en délimiter les contours. Il s’appuie sur les différentes contributions des auteurs et autrices du numéro, de même que sur les travaux théoriques et empiriques qui retracent comment la question des origines est mobilisée par les personnes concernées par l’adoption de même que par la procréation assistée par autrui. Pour en rendre compte, la perspective comparative est valorisée. L’attention aux origines révèle une évolution profonde liée à la dissociation croissante de la procréation et de la parenté, d’où semblent émerger des relations et des figures « nouvelles ». L’essor des technologies de la reproduction rend aujourd’hui plus nombreuses les circonstances, déjà présentes dans l’adoption, où des personnes procréent, mais ne deviennent pas – au sens légal - des parents, demeurant « aux marges » de la parenté. La notion d’origines offre un lieu d’examen particulièrement fécond des représentations et interprétations actuelles concernant les figures de l’origine (« parents » de naissance dans l’adoption, donneurs et donneuses de gamètes, femmes ayant porté un enfant pour autrui), les récits qui les constituent, la place qu’elles occupent (ou non) dans l’histoire des individus adoptés ou nés de la procréation par autrui.