Heather Boxall

I find this programme very biased towards the birth family or birth child, whichever is searching for parents/relatives/children. What about the adopting families, what are their true feelings? Yes, we are told they give their support, but what do they really feel? I know a couple of very happily adopted children, now grown up with families of their own who have never ever wished to seek their birth parents/relatives, but told me they feel guilty, as if there is something wrong that they have no wish to seek them out. They almost feel pressured into researching, even though they don’t truly want to, but the programme has so much emphasis on ‘this is a wonderful, right thing to do and everything will turn out marvellously’. They feel that, if their birth families really wanted to know about them, then they could have done so by now. So, programme makers, have a thought for all the very happy adopted children, young and older, who are quite content as they are, and do not wish to be coaxed into doing something they have no wish to do. Before anyone asks or comments, I no longer watch this programme, and neither do the adopted people I have referred to.

It’s interesting to see how these so called swaps affect people in different ways. I’ve just watched the one where Mum and her two girls, Bunny and Bugs, go to Dorset, and the other couple go on a hugely expensive holiday to Croatia. We’ve camped for many years and would never accept the very basic conditions provided with the Shepherd’s Hut. We may have years ago, but not now where a decent shower and toilet are considered standard. But to see the two girls back on their phones so soon, not having fun with their new friends was sad to watch. I also agree with the other young couple, money does not always mean happiness and the simpler things in life can give a lot of pleasure. But please, when you send people on basic, cheap holidays, remember we are in the 21st century! There’s basic, and there’s primitive!