Jana Rupnow's dedication to advocating for change in the donor conception industry was driven by her deep understanding of the psychological challenges involved, as well as her personal and professional experiences. Jana began her career in fertility and family counseling after she and her husband experienced secondary infertility and became adoptive parents. Her clientele included those experiencing infertility, undergoing IVF treatments, and, when fertility treatment wasn't successful, people choosing adoption, donor conception, and surrogacy.

Within six months of opening a private practice, she observed a troubling trend of secrecy and misinformation among prospective parents choosing donor conception as their path to parenthood. Many of them planned to keep the fact of donor conception a secret from their future children, often influenced by advice from medical professionals at fertility clinics. This pattern of secrecy deeply troubled Jana.

It wasn't just intended parents who were misinformed. Jana met with potential egg donors, most of whom didn't fully understand the long-term implications of donating their eggs. "I remember one young lady comparing it to donating a kidney. I knew more education was needed in the field."

Seeing clients in both adoption and donor conception, she noticed that as the adoption field became more open, the third-party reproductive field remained fiercely protective of genetic secrets. "I knew the psychological challenges of anonymous egg and sperm donation on a child. The secrets of the closed adoption system were repeating themselves and something had to change."

As an adoptee herself, Jana understood the psychological challenges associated with being kept in the dark about one's genetic origins. She had been aware of her own adoption from birth and knew that discussing non-traditional family structures was not only possible but crucial for healthy family dynamics.

During her counseling sessions, Jana encountered intense emotions, including shame, discomfort, grief, and loss, that many couples felt. She skillfully navigated these sessions, addressing her clients' infertility grief while advocating for honesty and openness on behalf of their potential child. This endeavor was not without challenges, as even some medical professionals within the field resisted her approach.

Jana also identified major gaps in psychological preparation for intended parents. She went beyond the typical counseling sessions, covering details that others often overlooked, such as epigenetics and how infertility grief affects parenting across the lifespan, as well the potential for multiple half-siblings in other families. She recognized that a single counseling session was insufficient to adequately prepare couples. To address this, she wrote and self-published a resource for intended parents, Three Makes Baby, and began a marketing campaign direct to the parents on social media. “My clients were eager for more information about donor conception and there was a major gap in available resources.

“I knew that life was long, and I couldn’t stop thinking about the future children. I felt a deep responsibility to them because I was like them. I was a child with a mysterious identity to figure out. I lived through the confusion, the grief, and the silence."

Through her dedication, Jana aimed to empower intended parents with knowledge and support, ultimately working toward greater transparency, understanding, and psychological preparation within the donor conception industry. She started a podcast and an International Awareness Day, (IDCAD) to continue to raise awareness on the topic. Today she is Director of Medical Resources and Content with USDCC, a non-profit group advocating for improved standards in the field of donor conception.