Adoption Show
First broadcast in May 2006, The Adoption Show is an internet-based radio programme that gives a global voice to those whose lives have been affected by family separation though the practice of adoption. Organisers, working from Canada, interview guests about all aspects of adoption - trans-racial adoption, domestic adoption, the search for families, and adoption laws. The goal is to foster awareness about adoption.
Communication Strategies
This radio show, which airs every Sunday night at 8:30 PM (EST) and is recorded in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is also broadcast on the web (in various formats) in an effort to reach out to families separated by the adoption industry and for supporters of (natural) family preservation. (Click here to listen to past programmes online.)
In addition to discussing serious issues raised by the adoption industry, The Adoption Show plays music. Listeners are encouraged to share their voice, stories, opinions, artwork, music, poetry, and advocacy efforts to change "open records" laws and legislation. (One source for more information on the latter is the Adoption Encyclopedia.) To foster participation and idea exchange, organisers welcome ideas for show themes and encourage engagement in components of the initiative such as the online chatroom, which is designed to bring listeners together.
A key project strategy is promoting the work of local and global musicians, artists, and writers who are adoptees. For instance, in September 2006, the feature guest was rap star DMC - Darryl McDaniels - who found out at age 35 that he was adopted. And the October 22 2006 show was scheduled to feature playwright Edward Albee, who is adopted and will talk about his views on adoption.The idea involves using information and communication technologies (ICTs) to share specific stories that make "the controversial subject of adoption" personal - and inviting even prominent personnel who have experience with it to come forth and speak out in order to "bring more awareness around separating families."
The initiative has an activist bent, as illustrated by its emphasis on advocacy and its inclusion of guests such as Marilyn Churley, who was first elected to Toronto (Ontario) City Council in 1988; she was characterised on the show as "an effective and passionate champion in the effort to reform adoption disclosure laws in Ontario....She and the adoption community celebrated victory in November 2005 when the present Liberal government passed legislation based on her bills. Marilyn had a very personal interest in this issue. She relinquished a newborn son to adoption in January 1968 and reunited with him in 1996..." This guest's story is one example of the programme's focus on highlighting the experience of parents who have "lost a child to adoption."
In addition to discussing serious issues raised by the adoption industry, The Adoption Show plays music. Listeners are encouraged to share their voice, stories, opinions, artwork, music, poetry, and advocacy efforts to change "open records" laws and legislation. (One source for more information on the latter is the Adoption Encyclopedia.) To foster participation and idea exchange, organisers welcome ideas for show themes and encourage engagement in components of the initiative such as the online chatroom, which is designed to bring listeners together.
A key project strategy is promoting the work of local and global musicians, artists, and writers who are adoptees. For instance, in September 2006, the feature guest was rap star DMC - Darryl McDaniels - who found out at age 35 that he was adopted. And the October 22 2006 show was scheduled to feature playwright Edward Albee, who is adopted and will talk about his views on adoption.The idea involves using information and communication technologies (ICTs) to share specific stories that make "the controversial subject of adoption" personal - and inviting even prominent personnel who have experience with it to come forth and speak out in order to "bring more awareness around separating families."
The initiative has an activist bent, as illustrated by its emphasis on advocacy and its inclusion of guests such as Marilyn Churley, who was first elected to Toronto (Ontario) City Council in 1988; she was characterised on the show as "an effective and passionate champion in the effort to reform adoption disclosure laws in Ontario....She and the adoption community celebrated victory in November 2005 when the present Liberal government passed legislation based on her bills. Marilyn had a very personal interest in this issue. She relinquished a newborn son to adoption in January 1968 and reunited with him in 1996..." This guest's story is one example of the programme's focus on highlighting the experience of parents who have "lost a child to adoption."
Development Issues
Children, Youth, Rights.
Key Points
Comments from Michelle Edmunds, Host and Producer, The Adoption Show:
" I am a journalist with a counselling background and education, plus an adoptee who searched and reunited in 1996 ( I was 34) with my mother and five siblings - my mother passed eight months after me finding her. I was very confused and angry until I got involved with adoption reform to change present adoption laws. I found my voice and realized that adoption and sealed identities, and mothers who were forced to surrender their babies for adoption had been silenced for decades...it is very difficult for anyone living in an oppressive state to find their voice. And what's really frustrating is trying to educate that masses that adoption is oppressive - we are told over and over that we should be happy about our losses. I was a guest on a web radio show talking about adoption, and it was then I thought that this would be a great medium for people to get their voices heard...to know that people are listening and to empower people to understand they are not alone."
" I am a journalist with a counselling background and education, plus an adoptee who searched and reunited in 1996 ( I was 34) with my mother and five siblings - my mother passed eight months after me finding her. I was very confused and angry until I got involved with adoption reform to change present adoption laws. I found my voice and realized that adoption and sealed identities, and mothers who were forced to surrender their babies for adoption had been silenced for decades...it is very difficult for anyone living in an oppressive state to find their voice. And what's really frustrating is trying to educate that masses that adoption is oppressive - we are told over and over that we should be happy about our losses. I was a guest on a web radio show talking about adoption, and it was then I thought that this would be a great medium for people to get their voices heard...to know that people are listening and to empower people to understand they are not alone."
Sources
Emails from Michelle Edmunds to The Communication Initiative on September 6 and October 13 2006; and The Adoption Show website.
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