A new podcast series published in October on BBC Radio 4 called The Adoption, follows a real life adoption and asks some insightful questions about the process.

The series took 19 months to make, and charts the lives of two toddlers, Bethany and Ben, as they find themselves being adopted.

There are currently 16 episodes, with each one looking at a different aspect of adoption. We’ve broken down each episode according to its theme:

Preview: Background information on the documentary.

Episode 1: The family court process and a look at who makes the decision for a child to be adopted.

Episode 2: The foster care portion of the process with thoughts from the foster mother.

Episode 3: An introduction to the children themselves and some input from their social worker.

Episode 4: How the biological grandparents fit into the adoption process.

Episode 5: Insight into how Bethany and Ben’s father is coping with the adoption.

Episode 6: A look at how the mother is processing news of the adoption, which also raises the question of wrongful removal.

Episode 7: How potential adopters view the process and what they’ve done to prepare for the children coming to stay.

Episode 8: The potential adopters attend an Information Day and learn more about the children, to see if Bethany and Ben are ‘right for them.’ (We object strongly to this notion, so we’re putting it on record here).

Episode 9: What happens when the birth family find out prospective adopters have been found Bethany and Ben.

Episode 10: Issues around telling the children they are being adopted.

Episode 11: How the Adoption Panel works, what it does and how it comes to its conclusions about adoptive parents.

Episode 12: The parents say goodbye to the children.

Episode 13: Bethany and Ben’s father reflects on what’s happened.

Episode 14: The children move in with the new family.

Episode 15: Ben and Bethany meet their ‘new’ mother and father.

We have not yet had the chance to listen, but we would love to hear your thoughts on the series. Was it sensitively produced? Have the team managed to get some nuance in to the series and have they highlighted potential problems with the process? Let us know.

Very many thanks to Rose Watson for sharing this on Facebook and Janie Doe for alerting us to the series.