From rosse at ncf.ca Fri May 7 15:31:10 2004 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Mon May 10 08:44:29 2004 Subject: [Nacac-canadian-issues] "Original Kin" 3 Adoption reunion stories on CBC Newsworld May 9 - 11 at 10 pm ET & repeated Message-ID: <5.2.0.9.2.20040507171033.0234a7a8@pop.ncf.carleton.ca> http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/originalkin/index.html CBC Newsworld's Documentary Special: ORIGINAL KIN Broadcasting May 9 - May 11, 2004 at 10PM ET/PT on CBC Newsworld Repeating May 13 - 15, 2004 at 10PM ET/PT on CBC Newsworld When people go in search of their biological families, what are they hoping to find? And do they ever find it? A new three-part documentary series explores the desire to reunite with lost family --and the bittersweet consequences when they do. Broken Roots - Annie Ong: Lost & Found - Relativity Facts & Figures - Filmmakers - Resources http://cbc.ca cbc.ca Program Guide CBC Newsworld Original Kin: Annie Ong After years of searching, Canadian filmmaker Jeannette Loakman gave up hope of finding her birth mother. She'd travelled overseas, even made an earlier documentary, but with no results. Then, an unexpected e-mail arrives, and Loakman suddenly finds herself with another mother, three sisters and a guilty conscience triggered by her adoptive mother's reaction to the news. The film follows Loakman as she adjusts to the trauma of a life with two mothers. But can she keep them both? Directed by Stefan Randstr?m. Want to know more? Visit the Original Kin: Annie Ong website: http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/originalkin/index.html Sunday, May 9, 2004, 10:00 p.m. REPEAT AIRING May 13, 2004, 10:00 pm. Original Kin: Broken Roots Chronicles 19-year-old David's struggle to find inner peace. He hopes that returning to his birthplace, Korea, will ease the pain at the root of his destructive behaviour and dangerous sense of disconnection. His adopted family is supportive but they consider this a last resort. But will meeting his Korean family quell his cultural angst? And can he handle the news that his biological mother was tricked into giving him up by his biological father? Directed by Susan Chang. Want to know more? Visit the Original Kin: Broken Roots website: http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/originalkin/index.html Monday, May 10, 2004, 10:00 p.m. REPEAT AIRING May 14, 2004, 10:00 p.m. Original Kin: Relativity Brenda Kovrig says she "always hated adoption reunion shows." And yet, she too embarks on a journey to find her birth family, grappling with issues of identity, ancestry, genetics and deep, dark secrets. Funny and painful, Kovrig visits a philosopher, a therapist and a scientist in her search for clues to who she is and who she might have been. Part coming-of-age, part detective story, she wonders if and when she'll meet her biological family. Directed by Brenda Kovrig. Want to know more? Visit the Original Kin: Relativity website: http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/originalkin/index.html Tuesday, May 11, 2004, 10:00 p.m. REPEAT AIRING May 15, 2004, 10:00 p.m. From rosse at ncf.ca Thu May 13 08:40:30 2004 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Fri May 14 08:14:00 2004 Subject: [Nacac-canadian-issues] Recommend 3 Adoption reunion stories on TV repeated May 13-15 Message-ID: <5.2.0.9.2.20040513095418.0225d3d0@pop.ncf.carleton.ca> I recommend the "Original Kin" 3 Adoption Reunion Stories on CBC Newsworld at 10 pm ET May 13 - 15. They could be taped for further discussion by adoption support groups and training sessions for workers. These videos show adoption in its complexity. I can't help but contrast them with the way adoption is treated in the Adoption stories on the Discovery Health Channel and the 20/20 program. So often adoption is portrayed very simplistically as an event and a very difficult process and system which has to be overcome to bring a child into an adoptive family causing great happiness for the adoptive family. But seldom do we see the real story. All of us in support groups and Child Welfare, but especially new adoption workers and agencies need to come to understand the complex nature of adoption and the need for respect for all parties involved. Both the act of adoption and of adoption reunion have tremendous after effects. One reason these three are interesting is that the established film maker in the first and third is actually the adoptee herself making her own video of her own reunion and its aftermath. In the middle one the adoptive family and adoptee are very involved in the filming and direction of the video. In these three reunion is not just an event finally achieved after difficulty, but has tremendous fallout and readjustment afterward. The third one is called "Relativity" which makes me think of the term "adoption constellation" which tries to capture the moving in and out of the relationships in adoption over time - the birth mother & birth father and adoptive parents and siblings, adoptive & birth, coming in and out of importance to the adoptee over the lifespan. There are interesting similarities and differences in all three videos - the adoptive mother in the first, supposedly supportive of the reunion but getting sick over it, and the adoptive parents in the third and the second, so certain and secure. The quest of the third film maker to find answers from experts in such fields as Genetics about the meaning of relationships is fascinating. I appreciate the spontaneity of all three videos and ease before the camera of all the players, who shared with us their private feelings and drama. I was especially moved by David's family's situation and the attempt to get to the bottom of his difficulties & mental health problems and seek help. The impossibility of living in his homeland Korea without being able to speak or learn the language again showed the complexity of adoption. The difficulties caused by secrets and lies in the second and third are clear (not telling who raised David in his first two years, the jealousy of the birth father's wife, the obstruction of reunion with birth sister and birth father in the third). Things are not the way the appear. With the ability to find people via the Internet and communicate easily across the world, we still faced with situations of hiding so much. What is reality? These videos speak about the importance of openness and honesty in adoption and make me respect even more those struggling to make sense of their lives and help others to do so. I also recommend two other videos by film makers who film their own reunions and aftermath, "The Art of Autobiography" made by adoptee Dana Inkster (her own story and that of six others), and the old NFB film "Foster Child" by Aboriginal Gil Cardinal who films his efforts to open his records and meet his own birth family members. He stayed in one foster family until adulthood. From Elspeth Ross, educator in Adoption/permanency and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, adoptive parent of young adults, Ottawa area 613 446-4144 http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/originalkin/index.html CBC Newsworld's "Documentary Special: ORIGINAL KIN Broadcasting May 9 - May 11, 2004 at 10PM ET/PT on CBC Newsworld Repeating May 13 - 15, 2004 at 10PM ET/PT on CBC Newsworld When people go in search of their biological families, what are they hoping to find? And do they ever find it? A new three-part documentary series explores the desire to reunite with lost family --and the bittersweet consequences when they do. Broken Roots - Annie Ong: Lost & Found - Relativity Facts & Figures - Filmmakers - Resources http://cbc.ca cbc.ca Program Guide CBC Newsworld Original Kin: Annie Ong After years of searching, Canadian filmmaker Jeannette Loakman gave up hope of finding her birth mother. She'd travelled overseas, even made an earlier documentary, but with no results. Then, an unexpected e-mail arrives, and Loakman suddenly finds herself with another mother, three sisters and a guilty conscience triggered by her adoptive mother's reaction to the news. The film follows Loakman as she adjusts to the trauma of a life with two mothers. But can she keep them both? Directed by Stefan Randstr?m. Want to know more? Visit the Original Kin: Annie Ong website: http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/originalkin/index.html Sunday, May 9, 2004, 10:00 p.m. REPEAT AIRING May 13, 2004, 10:00 pm. Original Kin: Broken Roots Chronicles 19-year-old David's struggle to find inner peace. He hopes that returning to his birthplace, Korea, will ease the pain at the root of his destructive behaviour and dangerous sense of disconnection. His adopted family is supportive but they consider this a last resort. But will meeting his Korean family quell his cultural angst? And can he handle the news that his biological mother was tricked into giving him up by his biological father? Directed by Susan Chang. Want to know more? Visit the Original Kin: Broken Roots website: http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/originalkin/index.html Monday, May 10, 2004, 10:00 p.m. REPEAT AIRING May 14, 2004, 10:00 p.m. Original Kin: Relativity Brenda Kovrig says she "always hated adoption reunion shows." And yet, she too embarks on a journey to find her birth family, grappling with issues of identity, ancestry, genetics and deep, dark secrets. Funny and painful, Kovrig visits a philosopher, a therapist and a scientist in her search for clues to who she is and who she might have been. Part coming-of-age, part detective story, she wonders if and when she'll meet her biological family. Directed by Brenda Kovrig. Want to know more? Visit the Original Kin: Relativity website: http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/originalkin/index.html Tuesday, May 11, 2004, 10:00 p.m. REPEAT AIRING May 15, 2004, 10:00 p.m.