Panorama questions whether everyone should be allowed to have children.

On Wednesday 14 December Panorama ran a programme about what they consider to be the truth of adoption. The film maker Roger Graef raised a controversial question as to whether or not it is right for anyone and everyone to have children. In his documentary he indicated that the care system is currently letting down a growing number of children who will not remain with their birth parents or have little chance of successful adoption. He indicated that in the 3 films that he had made for Panorama about vulnerable children a pattern had emerged. He stated that the parents whose children are taken into care are often truly dysfunctional but go on to have more children who also end up being removed.

He wonders in his documentary whether or not at some stage the decision making should be taken away from parents. He cites some concerning statistics. The cost for a child in foster care is £150 per day and he makes the point that that is just the visible cost, there are additional costs regarding children who are placed in care as the majority require more assistance at school and more help in terms of life skills.

The average wait for a child to be adopted is 2 years and 7 months and the older a child gets the more difficulty it becomes to place the child.

In his documentary he showed children waiting 5 years to be adopted and also the difficulty when an adoption breaks down. He described the tangible confusion of the children where they had been placed for adoption after being in care with several different foster carers and the adoption had broken down after 3 years.

There are no easy answers to this problem but his question of should everyone be parents is a controversial one.

If you need any advice on any children matter contact the Michelmores Family Team on 01392 688688.