On Saturday, I blogged about a new show on the WE channel called The Locator. In that post, I said I probably wouldn’t watch The Locator. This is an emotional time of year for me with my son’s upcoming birthday so I knew that I shouldn’t watch it but somehow my television ended up on that channel anyways. I admit I was curious and not very bright at that moment.

So as I mentioned in my previous post, The Locator features investigator Troy Dunn. He specializes in finding lost loved ones which of course includes birth family members. They showed two episodes back to back. The second episode is the one that got me the most.

In that episode, a twenty nine year old woman named Katie, approached Troy at a book signing. She then told him that she needed his help and that he was her last hope. He agreed to meet with her and hear her story.

After locating her birthmother, Troy goes to meet her. This is where I got emotional. This woman had her baby at sixteen years old. She didn’t want to place the baby for adoption but basically had no choice according to her mother.

As she talked to Troy, she told him that she had some sweet nurses and they gave her the opportunity to hold her baby even though she wasn’t supposed to. She also talked about how there was an ache in her heart and how although she had gone on to have two more daughters, nothing had ever replaced the ache in heart for the daughter she’d lost to adoption.

My heart ached for this woman. Although I have an open adoption, I could still identify with her feelings. In true television fashion, there was a happy ending with mother and daughter reuniting.
I keep wondering if these people who are reunited through this show receive any type of counseling. You do see Troy preparing them for the possibility that the person might not want to be found and have anything to do with them. But I don’t really consider that professional counseling and besides, what about after that initial reunion and “honeymoon” phase?

And, I hope that viewers realize that not every reunion may have the “happy ending” that viewers watching that particular episode saw. And in the future if they show reunions that don’t have happy endings, I hope viewers will realize that not every reunion ends on a sour note.

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