Snowflake children is a term used by organizations that promote the adoption of embryos left over from in vitro fertilization to describe children that result, where the children's parents were not the original cell donors.
These embryos are transferred to infertile couples via embryo adoption, although the legal process of taking ownership of an embryo differs from that of traditional adoption. According to a CBS News article dated July 28, 2005, the term "Snowflake" was coined by the first agency to provide the transfer service, Nightlight Christian Adoptions. Ninety-nine children have been born from this program. [1]
Members of the Nightlight Christian Adoptions, the Embryo Adoption Awareness Campaign, and others now also use the term for the frozen embryos themselves.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowflake_childrenThey are adopted embryos in other words embryos which would have been discarded as surplus