Families Through Adoption

While this video professes to be a video on adoption, it smacks of a promotional effort for a particular non-profit adoption agency in suburban Chicago, IL called The Cradle. The program begins with on-camera commentary as five single-parent birth mothers each talk about their situation and how they became pregnant. Then they discuss their choices and apprehension in giving up their children for adoption. On screen titling introduces the various topics, such as "My Baby's Family," "Support Groups," and "The Future." In the final three segments, adoptive children ages 7 to 26 years get to speak about the adoption process, their birth mothers and adoptive parents, and the difficulties/differences in growing up adopted. Throughout this program, the success of mutual concept registries, support groups, communication with birth mothers, and the open adoption process are mentioned but not really detailed. Also, no potential problems or drawbacks to adoption or the adoption process are ever noted. The Cradle is the only institution cited in this program (no list of other agencies is provided). I don't know about you but it sounds like the QVC of adoption to me. Seek a broader based, more informative program on adoption and its alternatives. Not recommended. (J. Scholtz)