Adoption Stories observes the emotional and complicated subject of adoption through the eyes of those directly involved in the process.

The series tells the stories of children in care and how they are fostered and adopted through to whole adopted families looking back at their experiences of what it was like.

Birth mothers and fathers tell of what it was like to have their children taken away from them or to have given them up voluntarily.

Adoption Stories follows the preparation process which prospective adopters and fosterers must go through before being assessed by a panel which decides on their suitability and matching to a child.

Adoption and fostering is all about finding the perfect match for the child. Although there are many children now in the care of local authorities and large numbers of people willing to foster and adopt it is the match of the two which takes the time and must be in the child’s best interest.

As one of our interviewees said, "Adoption and fostering is about finding families for children, not finding children for families".The series also looks at the perspective of adult adoptees looking back many years on from their adoption and how they go about tracing their past.

The series has taken almost two years to make and tells stories from all over Scotland.

Series commenced Monday 6th September 2004, BBC Scotland