I found this short series, which focuses on the challenges surrounding adopting/fostering a child in foster care, to be really impactful. Personally in my life I have little exposure to the foster care system. Any information I knew regarding foster care before this film, was from the news and focused on issues with the system. All I have really heard about was worse case “scenarios”, as Jillian Lauren a mother of adopted children from foster care and best selling author of “Everything You Ever Wanted” talks about. In her interview she try to bust open some of these stigmas. This interview (in episode 3) was both moving and profound, obviously her openness in regards to her and her husbands fears right before becoming parents, and love for her children from that point on brought me to tears.
Fears and this urgency that surrounded the desire to do what is best for child was carried throughout the film. Whether it was the discussed in the interview with Johnny Symons director of “Daddy and Papa” and his husband William, when talking about his son original foster mother giving him up because she knew she wouldn’t be able to provide him with all the support he needed to flourish; or, the multiple instances in which Nicole and Kristan thought they would be adopting a child and the situation didn’t work. Everyone just wanted what was best for the child at the end of the day.
I really respect both Nicole and Kristan choice to document such an emotional and personal journey in their life. Their story and journey that allows for people who have never experienced adoption to connect to the topic, and appreciate it in way that they could never fully grasp on their own. Watching both their disappointment and joy, made the film and the film’s journey genuine. The film focuses on a serious topic, but the overlay of the cartoons, colorfulness, and goofiness of the film made it a feel good film. I enjoyed the film series, and I am interested in seeing how everything turned out for Nicole and Kristan. I really believe that deserve a family, and that a child or multiple children deserve parents like them.