Robert Albon, aka “Joe Donor,” who recently endured a brutal custody fight. His goal was to finalize parental rights for his and his partner’s three year-old girl but, as it happened, lost that chance. His application was refused by the family court judge at Middlesbrough. This ruling was the latest in the string of defeats for the unregistered sperm donor, known to have fathered more than 180 children across the globe.
Albon’s journey into the spotlight included appearances on popular media outlets such as This Morning and a Channel 4 documentary. He gained notoriety for his controversial sperm donation practices, which he offered for free until 2017, primarily through social media platforms like Facebook. His approach has come under fire, most notably when it affects thousands of families in South America, Australia, and the UK.
Even though Albon claimed to have achieved the equivalent of “about 180 live births,” the quest for parental rights has proved difficult for Albon. That forced him into making repeated attempts to be recognized as a legal parent. This has involved making four individual applications for a child he fathered in the UK. Each one of these has been rejected, making his uphill run for parental responsibility more difficult.
Aside from his legal woes across the Atlantic in the UK, Albon is experiencing some serious monetary issues stateside. He has a warrant for his arrest over unpaid child maintenance, tens of thousands of dollars. His past includes time spent offering sperm donation services in the US, where he is reported to have fathered children as well.
Albon’s personal life has shown intricate dynamics with families overseas. He wants to join his Japanese children and his Chinese offspring but is still cut off from both. This estrangement casts significant doubt on his commitment to the children he represented himself as having fathered.
The court’s decision to deny Albon custody rested heavily on the court’s concern about Albon’s motives and actions. One judge called him “the ultimate narcissistic man who wants to dominate. The former pediatrician has brushed off his doctors’ actions as treating children as a “thing.” These comments underscore the incredible impact of his unregulated sperm donation practice.
Given the recent verdicts, Albon said he was angry with how his applications were treated by the court system. He stated, “I’ve had about 180 live births and I’ve met about 60 of them.” His claims show that he wishes to be seen as a father, even though the court has already denied him that wish multiple times.
An unnamed Durham woman, after sharing her story with Albon in the past, reported feeling severe emotional trauma from their encounters. She wrote, “Have… done a disgusting amount of dwelling on… everything you did wrong to me. I can’t eat. There have been too many days when I almost ended my life this morning. It was my 17-year-old that stopped me. I cannot carry on any longer. You have truly broken me.” This quote really highlights the human effect of Albon’s actions on users of his sperm donation services.