A funny Kind of Care

After our initial excitement over our (future) Chinese daughter last week we had a reality check. What about, we wondered, all the children in the UK that needed a family? Last week was National Adoption week and what a week it was. Three children, who should have been protected, were killed (allegedly) by a parent. The story of baby P in particular horrifies us all. Not just that it happened - but the fact that the dirt-hungry News moguls continue to use this tragic story as a way to sell papers – this is paper porn of the worst kind. It reminds me of the endless coverage devoted to the McCann case. At least then there was still some hope that someone somewhere might find that child and return her home. This is a misery memoir. In which nobody got to grow up.
I make a strong coffee and call a very nice social worker at the local council. And that’s where the lovely morning begins to go a bit wrong because I find out, what I had long suspected. The waiting lists for domestic adopters are full of white couples. And the children waiting for families are non-white. And, of course, the Adoption Services WILL NOT place a child of black or mixed race origin with a white family. This the primary complaint about the system we have in this country for domestic adoption, and is the main reason so many couples go overseas to adopt.
It’s a rum old world we live in. When you can adopt a child from pretty much anywhere in the world, who not only doesn’t share your colour, but your language, culture and weather system. All you need is a private jet and a shed-load of cash and you’re in like Jolie. We’re never going to afford to do a Jolie-Pitt, so we’re going to pursue this domestic conundrum. And stop reading the papers until they can find something nice to write about. A surfing Squirrel would work for me.