The series where the public can make programmes under their own editorial control.
Make or Break
A young woman whose two daughters are being adopted against her wishes talks about her grief at losing them. A district nurse and grandmother, who spotted that her daughter-in-law needed help with her baby, approached the Social Services - she was devastated when the result was the child's adoption. The stories these people tell are subjective and powerful.
They are telling their side of an experience which is seldom given voice. Many of us might assume that a child in care who is adopted must have had parents who abused or neglected it.... and the Social Services had no choice.
That is not always the case. In the last ten years, compulsory adoption has risen sharply to 1,000 cases a year. That is three families a day separated for good despite parental objections.
The first of this new series of Open Space looks at how that can happen.
Cameraman MIKE ELEY Editor STEVE RONAY
Executive producer TONY LARYEA Producer LUCY PARKER
COMMUNITY PROGRAMME UNIT