For anyone who has ever watched "Find My Family" (and unless you have been through the process your self or have had someone bang on about it to you), you could be excused for thinking that the adoption search process is always successful and always ends happily.
But they omit some very serious alternative outcomes and brush over the arduous, painful and very personal search process. A process that involves a seemingly endless paper trail of forms, certificates, electoral rolls, telephone books, musty libraries and world class bureaucracy
They skip over the emotional rollercoaster ride of the search - hope, fear, anxiety, excitement, nervousness, etc
And they simply ignore the real results for many searchers - rejection, disappointment, dead ends, anger, and of course (for me at least) death.
They'd have you believe that all you do is call Channel 7 and then one interview, a video message later, you will be in the arms of your long lost biological relation.
A better critique is included in this great newsletter from the Post Adoption Resource Centre (PARC). There is an editorial and a great article condemning the program as well as a very harrowing tale of one woman's search.
Despite my criticism, I find it compulsive viewing. The artificial tension and the use of 10 minutes of real story stretched to fill the timeslot are put to one side and I howl at the happy reunions. On a good night I cry because I see what it might have been like while on others I cry because I see what I will never be able to experience.
