Not without justification as it turned out, before it aired, this programme was said to be sure to attract “critical acclaim” and indeed it is.

Samantha Morton’s directorial debut was remarkable in that her direction ensured that the entirety of the film was seen from Lucy’s – the main character, excellently played by Molly Windsor – perspective. It was filled with symbolism which, if done without the personal affect that Morton brought to this drama, might have been clichéd, but as the film drew on her own experiences as a child as well as fictional elements, the balance was just right… Read more & comment »

As part of Britain’s Forgotten Children season on Channel 4, this moving documentary charted journalist Rachel Roberts’ attempts to trace some of the children with whom she was in a care home in Doncaster. She also wanted to find the matron of the home, Tina – of whom she had nothing but fond memories – and her husband Dennis. This particular sentiment was one that we were to discover was shared by all those she met who’d also been in Tina and Dennis’s care.

Rachel, who’s now 38, was just four years old when she and her sister Jenny were placed into the care of social services and – unlike many of the people we’ve encountered in this emotive series of documentaries – described her time in care “a positive experience” adding, “I was really happy there.” Read more & comment »

In this third and final episode of the Find Me a Family series, we met same-sex couple, John, 56, and Anthony, 38, who want to become parents and have decided that adoption is the way forward for them. Like the majority of adopters, they would’ve ideally liked to adopt a baby, but had enrolled on a project designed by David Akinsanya – who was himself brought up in care – with a view to getting them to consider adopting older children who are ‘hard to place’.

John and Anthony had stated that they were “open to” most of the challenges of adopting, but at times, it seemed hard to imagine how any child – let alone one who required a good deal more looking after than most children might – would fit into their busy lives; they both work and have 10 horses and several dogs and uncomfortably, for a while, I felt that they were perhaps looking for the ultimate pet; a child… Read more & comment »