Who’s Your Mama? MTV’s TRUELIFE Adoption Drama
I could not let this Fourth of July holiday weekend slip by without a mention of MTV’s new TRUELIFE drama entitled “I’m Placing my Baby for Adoption!” Thanks to the NCFA announcement supporting the show, I’m happy to bring this tidbit to a much wider audience.
According to the NCFA email I received last month (there is no mention of the show on the NCFA website):
The National Council For Adoption is lending a helping hand to the producers of an adoption documentary for the successful and popular MTV’s True Life series.
The adoption documentary will follow three or four young unwed birthmothers on video as they go through difficult and emotional decisions in developing adoption plans for their babies.
According to the show’s producers, the goals of the True Life adoption documentary are “to help de-stigmatize the adoption process and to show that adoption is a choice that loving, responsible mothers make when they believe it’s best for their child. We also hope to express the range of emotions birthmothers feel as they go through this process.”
These goals coincide with the mission of NCFA’s new iChooseAdoption public awareness campaign to “create a more pro-adoption culture in which everyone, including women facing unplanned pregnancies, can consider adoption freely without fear, bias, or misunderstanding” and to “promote a culture that respects and appreciates birthmothers, honors their decision-making process, and supports their choice of adoption.”
First we had Fox’s “Who’s Your Daddy“, then there was Juno, and now this.
According to MTV’s casting call flyer (there’s no mention of a casting couch or, for that matter, birth fathers):
Our goal — as with all episodes of “True Life” — is to help MTV’s young
audience understand why so many young women make the choice to
place their babies for adoption, and to help de-stigmatize this choice. We
will treat the young women who participate in this documentary with
respect, dignity and empathy.
Not to worry folks, according to MTV, “True Life is not a reality show. Our producers follow strict ethical guidelines and carefully avoid influencing our subjects’ stories. It is also not a news show – there is no host, reporter, or narrator. We allow our subjects to tell their own stories in their own voices.”
Now I’d like YOU to give me YOUR reaction in your own voice. Who’s Your Mama?
Anonymous
July 3, 2008 (3:25 pm)
Will MTV also be providing free psychological services for the balance of the young woman’s life? She will need them to help her through the endless grief that follows losing a child to adoption.
Anonymous
July 9, 2008 (8:39 pm)
How disheartening to know that losing one’s entire natural family as an grieving infant in familial exile, will be entertaining to the masses.
Anonymous
October 17, 2008 (2:47 pm)
I think this is a great choice for the show. My sister was actually asked to be a part of this show but declined. She was pregnant with twins and at a point in her life where she was not able to care for them. Instead of having an abortion she decided to give them a chance at a great life. She looked through profile after profile of possible adoption parents and chose one. After a few weeks they backed out because they weren’t ready. A second couple sort of fell into their hands. They had just started the process of filling out paperwork and the adoption agency told them it’d be a year or so before they’d even be considered to adopt, after all the paperwork and such was completed. They happened to ask about twins and how often they come along. You see, they weren’t able to have children of their own and have been saving for years to adopt. They wanted a big family and thought twins would be a great start. The agency told them twins only come along once every year or two and not to get their hopes up. At this time the adoption agency thought of my sister. It was closing in on her 7th month and she didn’t have a family because many people were scared as it was to adopt a baby, let alone two. They gave the couple one night to come up with a profile to show my sister and as soon as she read it she knew this was the family she wanted to adaopt her girls. The biological father was invilved every step of the way and he immediately fell in love with them as well. When the girls were born, two beautiful, healthy baby girls, the couple came to the hospital and was there every step of the way. Although I miss them more than anyone could imagine, I know this is the best thing for them. My sister loves them and had second thoughts many times throughout this whole process but in the end this couple was able to give them the life my sister would never be able to give them. Many people think adoption is something a woman choses for her own selfish reasons but it’s the complete opposite. My sister put aside every feeling she had and thought about these babise, and these babies only. I hope this segment will make people understand that it is a very difficult and emotional choice, but it’s one made out of love.
Anonymous
November 7, 2008 (2:44 pm)
How great that MTV will be helping young people see how positive adoption can be. The pain of placing a child for adoption is real, but let us not forget the options this opens up for the birth mother and the child. Without this option children are often either aborted or raised by single moms who struggle to provide for themselves and their children. This show is much needed – thanks to MTV for doing it. I can’t wait to see it!
Anonymous
August 8, 2009 (5:43 pm)
I am glad there is a show out there that puts a postive spin on adoption. My hubby and I have been pursuing open adoption for 5 years now. We are unable to have children (won’t go into details) and see this as a wonderful way for us to realize our dream of a family. Open adoption can only be looked at as a ‘win/ win’ situation!! The Birthparents have chosen life for this child that they are unable to care for any other way, we are simply offering this child a lifetime of love and unconditional support, as well as the ENTIRE Birthparents families! There is nothing but love surrounding a child when it comes into this world by open adoption. We have had 2 Birthmothers back out on us at the last minute at the hospital and are still beliving that our child is out there waiting to find us. If anybody out there is reading this and is pregnant and considering open adoption please email me at joinourfamily@hotmail.com. Thank you! 🙂
Anonymous
August 8, 2009 (8:03 pm)
Ah, the NCFA is making yet another attempt at keeping the supply of babies to the unregulated, multi-billion dollar a year adoption industry flowing. Stop treating children as commodities and women with crisis pregnancies as vessels. You want to do some real good, try lobbying for more funding that supports mothers in crisis and family preservation instead of promoting things that line the pockets of adoption profiteers.
Anonymous
August 9, 2009 (1:59 pm)
“The pain of placing a child for adoption is real”
Oh, you bethcha it’s real. Pain every day of your life, for the rest of your life. The baby’s birthday is devastating. And the holidays are miserable. Forty years after the fact, and I still suffer every day. The loss of my child to adoption is the first thing I remember when I arise, and the last thing I think of before I fall asleep. Another real pain; people who have NOT lost a child to adoption speaking for people who have. It’s a minor annoyance compared to the rest of the pain, but it’s a galling annoyance. If you have not lost a child to adoption, you.know.NOTHING.about.it.
Anonymous
August 9, 2009 (2:01 pm)
“but let us not forget the options this opens up for the birth mother and the child.
Yes. Let us not forget. Plenty of options for mothers. Some possibilities: Clinical depression, free floating anxiety, low self esteem, anniversary reactions, trust issues, and a general lack of will to live. A fortune spent on psychotherapy to prevent her from suiciding. Obsessions and fears about any children she might have in the future, if her loyalty issues to her lost child don’t prevent her from having more. Eating disorders. Loss of productivity at work when all of the above hits.
Anonymous
August 9, 2009 (2:03 pm)
but in the end this couple was able to give them the life my sister would never be able to give them
…this year. five years from now is a completely different story.
adoption is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.
Anonymous
August 9, 2009 (2:10 pm)
“The biological father was invilved every step of the way and he immediately fell in love with them as well.”
Too bad he did not man up, marry your sister, and take care of those two beautiful daughters. Everyone is going to pay for that for the rest of their lives, in ways you can’t even imagine at the moment.
“When the girls were born, two beautiful, healthy baby girls, the couple came to the hospital and was there every step of the way.”
Gross. They could not give your sister and your family a little private time with THEIR babies? Typical.
” Although I miss them more than anyone could imagine, I know this is the best thing for them.”
…because someone told me so, and I have to believe it or I will collapse with the pain.
Finished your thought.
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