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| Welfare of Child |
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How does the Herts & Essex Fertility Centre make an assessment?
Many factors are taken into consideration, including who will be legally responsible for any child born as a result of treatment, and who will be bringing up the child.
We do not exclude any woman from being considered for treatment.
In situations where the child will have no legal father, we will pay particular attention to the prospective mother’s ability to meet the child’s needs throughout childhood.
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What will be discussed?
During your consultation we will take a detailed medical and social history of you and your partner. The issues that may be considered are:
- Your commitment to having and bringing up a child/children.
- Your ability to provide a stable and supportive environment for any child/children born as a result of treatment.
- Your medical histories and the medical histories of your families.
- Your health and consequent future ability to look after or provide for any child/children’s needs.
- Your ability to meet the needs of any child/children who may be born as a result ofle multiple births.
- Any risk of harm to the child/children who may be born; the risk of inherited disorders or transmissible diseases; potential problems that may develop during pregnancy and incidence of neglect or abuse.
- The effect of a new baby or babies upon any existing child/children in your family.
In addition, if your treatment involves the use of donated sperm or eggs, the following will be discussed:
- A child’s potential need to know their origins and whether you are prepared for questions which may arise while the child is growing up. Possible attitudes of other members of the family towards the child, and towards his/her status in your family.
- The implications for the welfare of the child if the donor is personally known within the child’s family or social circle.
- An explanation as to who will be the legal parents of any child/children born as a result of treatment with donated sperm or eggs.
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GP declaration
With your consent it may sometimes be necessary to contact your GP and your partner’s GP to ensure that they know of no reason why either of you may not be suitable for the treatment offered. We will ask your GP to provide relevant factual information, medical or otherwise, about you that may have implications for the health or welfare of any resulting child.
You need to be aware that it is possible for you to disclose information to us, which will not be passed on to your GP if it is considered not relevant to your treatment, and vice versa.
To facilitate this assessment process the following documents will be sent to you with your appointment letter, which must be completed and made available to us at your first consultation:
‘Disclosure of Information’ consent form. This must be completed and returned to the Herts & Essex Fertility Centre, permitting us to keep your GP or consultant informed of your treatment.
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Why might treatment be refused?
As a team, we are responsible for administering any fertility treatment and for making the final decision as to whether treatment can be offered. Treatment may be refused on clinical grounds, or if the Centre believes that it will not be in the interests of any resulting child or any existing child to provide treatment. Treatment may be refused if we are unable to reach a proper informed conclusion as a result of insufficient relevant information from you.
In the event of treatment being refused, an appropriate member of staff at the Centre will explain to you the reasons for the refusal and the factors, if any, which may persuade us to reverse this decision. We will also explain the options that remain open to you and will inform you where counselling or further assistance may be given.
Further information may be obtained from:
Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority
21 Bloomsbury Street
London
WC1B 3HF
Tel 020 7291 8200
www.hfea.gov.uk
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