TVScope: The promotion of the adoption of children in care was among the more controversial policies of the first Blair government. Such a policy closes the door on any return of the child to his or her family of origin. It carries with it the potential for injustices and catastrophic mistakes.
Wanted: New Mum and Dad Channel 4, Thursday, November 3rd, 9pm.
Yet without the potential for adoption, some children would spend their entire childhood in residential care or in fostering placements which may break down.
That certainly is the situation in the Republic where the circumstances under which a child whose parents are alive can be adopted are so restrictive that it hardly ever happens.
The first part of this Channel 4 documentary - the second part is broadcast next week - followed the stories of three children for whom social workers were seeking adoptive families.
We are told little about the circumstances which brought these children into care in the first place. Sean (7) had moved 30 times before he was taken into care and was with his fourth foster parent just before his adoption. His foster mother described him as sad and angry when he came to her. But the work that she and a family therapist and others have done with him seems to have brought his cheerfulness and his playfulness to the fore.
His adoption gives him the chance to live in one place with one family for the rest of his life. He does not go into this without misgivings. He worries that he might be mistreated when there is nobody from outside the family to see what is going on.
He worries that his adoptive parents might like him but that he might not like them. As the programme ends, he is about to move in with his adoptive parents whom he has taken to very well.
Like the other children, Rhiannon (9) is sad that her birth mother cannot look after her. However, she seems quite anxious to go to an adoptive family. The first family pulls out. It is a blow to Rhiannon who has been prepared for the move. Luckily, another family adopts her and she seems to be happy with them and they with her.
Daniel (9) has been told, like most children in care, that Mummy is "not well enough" to look after him. He is happy in his foster home and says he does not want to go anywhere. But a gay couple, Norman and Steve, apply to adopt him and over time Daniel is won over - not least by their flashy car.
The programme-makers received substantial co-operation from social services. Social workers, childcare workers and foster parents played a full part in the documentary. This suggests that the programme was never going to take a critical look at the adoption process.
However, the documentary should give food for thought to the Irish childcare services. Such a scheme would probably be impractical at this stage, however. Child protection services, in Dublin at least, are in what could be described as a state of near-collapse. Expressions of concern about children from teachers, childcare workers, counsellors,neighbours and relatives pile up in social work departments. Often they do not respond at all, so great are the demands on them and so few are the resources available to them.
Officialdom is busy expressing the gravest concern over the mistreatment of children in care in the past but little attention is paid to the needs of children at risk today. Perhaps a time will come when child protection will, for the first time ever, be given the status it deserves by the State. When that happens, schemes like the one described in this programme should be looked at very seriously.
Padraig O'Morain is a journalist and counsellor