#adoption
#adoption exposes the hidden realities of the United States’ unregulated domestic infant adoption industry, unraveling the myths that frame adoption as a purely loving choice through the raw perspectives of relinquishing mothers, adoptive parents and social media. What does it mean to give a child “a better life” and at whose expense?
#adoption zooms in on the shockingly unregulated half-billion-dollar domestic infant adoption industry in the US. Using verité footage and industry professional interviews, #adoption focuses on a perspective that typically gets ignored in adoption stories: the birth mother who is giving up her child. We juxtapose a small agency in Alaska and one of their families on their entire infant adoption journey with family preservation activists across the country on their mission to end “unnecessary adoptions.”
Alaska Adoption Services(AAS) is a small adoption agency trying to get it right. Tami and Victoria are both adoptive parents from foster care and started AAS in 2019 when the last remaining agency in Alaska closed. They only adopt from Alaskans to Alaskans. 90% of the infants adopted are Alaskan Native and over 90% of the families adopting are white. #adoptionislove The Leykos are a coast guard family based in Ketchikan, a picturesque cruise destination. Shannon is a former Miss New York and Aaron is a Coast Guard engineer. They are currently raising 2 biological children, but have always wanted to adopt[a baby of color]. And they are forced to relocate every 3 years. #hopingtoadopt
Lisa and Renee, birth mothers bonded by grief and rage, founded Saving Our Sisters(S.O.S.) after meeting online. Lisa was newly divorced raising three boys when she became surprisingly pregnant. A devout Christian, she believed married parents would be better for her baby. Renee was a single mom when she relinquished her son 13 years ago. She regretted the decision the minute she left the hospital, but because of Florida’s revocation laws, she had no way to get her son back. When they were cut off from the children they relinquished, they poured their energy into SOS and worked with hundreds of women to keep families together. #supportnotseparate We weave these stories challenging the premise and process of infant adoption in the U.S. and the contradictory state laws involved. #adoption
Director: Rebecca Israel
Producer: Erica Anderson
Editor: Rachel Clara Reed
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