Welfare of the child assessment
What is the Welfare of the child assessment?
During a patient's first consultation at a fertility clinic, their doctor will ask them a number of questions about their medical history to determine the best course of treatment for them.
The doctor will also ask the patient a series of questions relating to their social circumstances in person or by asking them to complete a questionnaire.
These questions are part of an assessment, known as the welfare of the child assessment, which clinics are required to perform in order to determine whether the prospective child is likely to face serious medical, physical or psychological harm.
What sort of information are clinics looking for?
Clinics ask patients questions relating to the following issues:
- previous convictions related to harming children
- contact with social services over the care of existing children
- serious violence or discord within the family
- serious drug or alcohol abuse
- serious mental or physical conditions and
- risk to the child of a serious medical condition.
What is the HFEA's role?
Fertility clinics offering treatments such as IVF, ICSI and egg or sperm donation operate under an Act of Parliament called the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990.
The Act requires clinics to consider the welfare of any child who may be born as a result of treatment and the welfare of any existing child of the family before they agree to provide treatment.
It is the HFEA's responsibility to provide clinics with guidelines on how to comply with this legal requirement. These guidelines were last updated in October 2009.
Further information
- Welfare of the child patient history form
- Welfare of the child patient history form - update June 2013 (version 2)
Page last updated: 03 June 2013
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