23rd February 2015 | by MFC Team
Growing number of men and women using matching sites to find potential co-parents
A Daily Mail Online story profiles a growing trend – an increasing number of men and women are using online matching sites to find a person with whom they can platonically co-parent.
The sites, which attract single men and women and gay couples, are much like dating websites. Users create a profile detailing what they are looking for, or are willing to provide, and can browse other profiles to find a match. Of the three largest sites in the UK, about 30% of the members are looking to co-parent, while the rest are looking for a sperm donor, or are volunteering to be a sperm donor.
Patrick Harrison, who started a matching site with his wife, Rita, says that in his experience, parental agreements between site members vary from two people in a platonic agreement who share custody of the child, to donors who only want limited involvement with any children.
Matched individuals can draw up agreements about parenthood responsibilities, but unless they are completed with the help of a lawyer, they are not legally binding. The short- and long-term social consequences of these relatively new parenting arrangements remain to be determined.
Read more about co-parenting here.
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