Adoption on TV

Adoption has been the part in a lot of story lines on television lately. I wrote about it being a part of a story line on Without a Trace recently as that particular episode revealed that one of the characters was a birthmother. Jenna has written about an adoption storyline on One Tree Hill as one character wanted to adopt and another character is an adoptee. The daytime drama One Life to Live has recently had a story line about a character experienced an unplanned (teen) pregnancy and made an adoption plan. Adoption also sprung up in the remake of Beverly Hills 90210 when viewers learned two characters were birthparents and another was an adoptee. It’s been in Grey’s Anatomy a few times and one of the main characters, Izzy, is a birthmother.

And these are just the ones that I am aware of. There are probably adoption storylines in other shows that I am not aware but my point is, it keeps popping up in different shows.

That got me to thinking, though, are adoption storylines becoming more common in television show storylines and popping up more lately or am I just more aware of the adoption storylines because I am a birthmother and they trigger an emotional reaction for me?

So, I started trying to think back to plots and storylines in television shows I watched prior to being a birthmom. One of the popular shows I watched in high school was (the original) Beverly Hills 90210. One of the main characters Steve was an adoptee and searched for his birthmother. Then there is some of the earlier Friends episodes with Phoebe who also searched for his birthparents. (The Monica and Chandler adoption story line didn’t come out until after I was already a birthmom.)

So, to answer my own question, I think adoption has always been in television shows I am just more aware of it now. However, I do think it’s probably popping up more often.

What do you think – do you think adoption is becoming more common place in adoption television shows or perhaps are you just more aware of it now that you have a personal connection to adoption?

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