15,000 kids and counting

A three part TV series on child protection and adoption began this week on Channel 4.
I watched the first episode last night and as tough and upsetting as it was, I would recommend it. I don't always promote these things beforehand because they can sometimes be rather 'all surface no feeling' ( I know Benefits Street upset a few of you) but I thought this got the balance about right between personality and process.
That said, I am acutely aware that I'm writing this for people who've worked in this very sector so if any of you think it was an unfair depiction of the job then I'd love to hear from you.

If you've used the Channel 4 on demand (4OD) website before then you'll know how this works, but if you haven't you'll need to register once you reach the log in page. All things being equal, just follow this link and you should be able to see the episode from last night.

If you need help creating your 4OD account then I'll guide you through it.

Australia's forced adoption past.

Back in 2011 I blogged about a film called Oranges and Sunshine, which detailed the quite astonishing undercover practice of separating babies from single mothers in the UK and sending them to Australia to be adopted. The film, which must be unique as it features the social worker as a hero, is online in full from here.

I mention this again because the PM of Australia today apologised to all the women in Australia who'd had their own children taken away from them for the 'crime' of being unmarried. It is quite frankly stunning that this went on right into the 1970's. For any of you under the age of 30, the 70's might feel like a long time ago, but to me it's my childhood.

If you'd like to hear more about this issue there was an interview on the Today programme this morning between presenter Sarah Montague and Lily Arthur who's one of the women this actually happened to.
You can listen to it here.

Panorama: The Truth About Adoption

This took me by surprise last night but there was a programme on BBC1 following 6 children awaiting adoption.

It focusses on the length of time the process takes and the recent increase in children being removed from their birth families - a legacy of the baby P case.

According to BBC's i-Player the programme will be available for a year (?) and just to make it absolutely clear you can reference it without having a copy saved.

For the sake of further clarity, this is what the format would look like in your reference list:

• Title of Programme (in italics) 
• Year of transmission (in round brackets)
• Name of channel
• Date of transmission (day/month)

The in text reference would just need to be (Panorama: The Truth About Adoption, 2011).

So now that's all clear, next stop iPlayer!

New adoption figures released.

I know there are a number of students who are interested in issues surrounding adoption in the UK. The release of new adoption figures this week resulted in dismay in many parts of the media, as the statistics suggested a fall in the number of babies and children being adopted.

In amongst the general hubbub of strained and opinionated voices I enjoyed the approach of Polly Curtis in the Guardian. Her online debate ran for several hours on Thursday as people added statistics and opinions to her live Reality Check blog. It's fascinating and I'd love to steal the idea and use it here one day!

In addition, there was a piece on the adoption debate on the Today programme. It's worth sharing as it touches on the specific sticking point of black children being adopted by white families, something I know several students have made the subjects of their dissertations in recent years.

The Times warns of 'social worker apathy' and adoption.

If any of you break stuff after reading the title of the post then please don't send me the bill - I'm just doing my bit by highlighting the issues. And remember I'm on your side.

The Times (you know-the newspaper run by that oh so nice Mr Murdoch?) has been running a campaign for a while now to make adoption easier. Well the government this week appointed Martin Narey, former Bernado's boss, as 'adoption Czar'. His first act has been to produce an overview of the problems which the adoption service currently faces and The Times has used this to highlight what they refer to as 'social worker apathy'.

You may think that this isn't a great week to be publicising a moral campaign in a newspaper owned by News Corp and you may be right, but any of you dealing with children in the care system will probably be interested in the outcomes.

Because The Times is pay-per-view online I cannot provide a link straight to the articles but you can see them all by using our newspaper database called Newsbank. I used the keyphrase, "adoption czar" to find relevant results. If you need any help with using Newsbank then just ask.

The Times online and "adoption apartheid".

This post is about 2 things really but they are linked.

Okay. The first thing is that The Times yesterday ran a story highlighting the disparity in waiting times between white and black children looking to be adopted. This story is part of a broader campaign which The Times is currently running to look at how adoption is run in the UK. Now usually I'd give you a link to The Times website but I can't because The Times online is now subscription only. It's the first newspaper in the UK to go this route but I'm prepared to bet it won't be the last.

Now for the good news. I've mentioned a database called Newsbank before but it's worth repeating because of this story. Newsbank is a database which just has full-text newspaper articles from the UK. There's a 24 hour publication delay but yesterday's article from The Times is now available.

One more thing. The report which The Times was quoting from is the statutory guidance given to adoption agencies published by the Department of Education. So click here to see the report and click here to arrive at the log in screen for Newsbank UK.