Kiri, Channel4, Wed 10th Jan

[southeastdweller]

Anyone else looking forward to this? The writer also wrote the recent Robbie Coltrane drama, National Treasure, and Sarah Lancashire is always superb.

www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2017-10-31/kiri-channel-4-trailer/

@DonnyAndVladSittingInATree actually I think you are onto something! However, in terms of adoption and identity (a BIG theme) there are not enough black/mixed heritage etc people coming forward for adoption or to be foster carers.

Kiri's birth family would not, or could not, take her in. So her option might have been long term foster care or adoption.

But yes, I think you are on to something.

It seems the programme isn’t staying quite so true to the reality of the adoption situation. I have no experience of it so am just going by what the programme is showing. They’re definitely pushing the “she should know her background” theme which is why I’ve interpeted things as I have.

@Lanaorana2 I don't think most children in the care system are non-white but a higher percentage are.

We looked into adopting a mixed heritage child just over 4 years ago. There were lots of interested families and we were not selected.

I wonder why Kiri was only being considered for adoption at age 9.

I really hope it's not the foster brother, it just seems so, lazy, somehow.

@DonnyAndVladSittingInATree the black doll too. I think you are right. It is a lot about race.

Whoever said it would be from different perspectives I think was right.

But what will the final 2 be? The foster mum? Then the foster father/birth father/foster brother; will we finally get to hear Kiri's side of the story?

I'm sure you're right outside London - I wasn't being clear. Basikerly, the relaxation of the trans-race rules came about because there is a racial imbalance between the adults esp. foster carers and the children.

As you say the time line is very odd for a drama set in the present - social work hasn't run like that for years - all the laws the plot relies on were binned years ago, and replaced with a not-so-new adoption structure.

Kiri has been waiting since she was 4 to have her fate decided, or at least signposted, by the authorities. Five years - v. the not-so-new 6 months' law? Which has just been refreshed so it's tightened up?

Another opposite-of-accurate plotline - the suspicious birth brother is seen as an aggressor. But in a third (and a reported third, ie a lot higher IRL) it's the existing children of a family who are attacked and hurt by the adopted child. One of the reasons adoptions 'disrupt' ie fail.

Out of date tosh, not sure why no one noticed.

I'm sure you're right outside London - I wasn't being clear. Basikerly, the relaxation of the trans-race rules came about because there is a racial imbalance between the adults esp. foster carers and the children.

As you say the time line is very odd for a drama set in the present - social work hasn't run like that for years - all the laws the plot relies on were binned years ago, and replaced with a not-so-new adoption structure.

Kiri has been waiting since she was 4 to have her fate decided, or at least signposted, by the authorities. Five years - v. the not-so-new 6 months' law? Which has just been refreshed so it's tightened up?

Another opposite-of-accurate plotline - the suspicious birth brother is seen as an aggressor. But in a third (and a reported third, ie a lot higher IRL) it's the existing children of a family who are attacked and hurt by the adopted child. One of the reasons adoptions 'disrupt' ie fail.

Out of date tosh, not sure why no one noticed.

@deadringer I agree. I think it is unlikely and seems lazy.

Must admit I am sick of the dog!

Yes the doll. I thought it odd that the father made a point of how he tried to get the darkest doll and then later SL when speaking to the press spoke of Kiri being given blue eyed dolls. SL can’t possibly have known the father bought her a doll can she? Its odd it was mentioned by both of them.

@DonnyAndVladSittingInATree I think it is all very simplistic! We considered adopting a child if any ethnicity and I was looking at dolls of different racial features/skin tone etc long before we even saw a profile of a child. But it dies seem logical he would (as her dad) look for a black doll.

I think there is no way SL character would have done the outburst on the door step! Not professional or sensible at all.

The fight scene was very real.

Oh yes it makes total sense her father would buy her a doll that looks like her, I just thought it odd that SL would then reference dolls later on when she apparently had no knowledge of any doll being bought. But then maybe she did. Maybe she heard from the police or somewhere else that the father had bought a doll for Kiri.

Forgot about this, so signing in, thank you for the thread.

Please can I come out of the woodwork join this thread?! I am a frontline SW and usually avoid SW dramas because for whatever reason there has yet to be one that has portrayed social work or children's services in a way which is any way based in reality. The writing and cast in this case are amazing but yet again the social worker is cast as wacky (dress sense, dog to work etc) and burn out equals alcoholism. Sarah Lancashire is amazing but God forbid a social worker can be potrayed as a professional using their judgement within limitations of statue and gatekeeping and no a crystal ball.

I do not think this drama is intended as a classic 'who dunnit' but instead is meant to explore the complexities of removing children from birth families. This is where it is strong. Some one questioned placing a 9 year old for adoption, my understanding is the foster family applied to adopt her. It is always better for a child not to grow up in care, although in reality an SGO would be more likely.

Today the office has been mad and surreal as usual and I have always wondered why there has been no social worker equivelent of casualty and holby city. I guess the actually reality of child protection being mostly damaged parents with substance misuse issues and domestic violence rather than murder and sexual abuse does not appeal as a TV programme. And 75% of the time we are just sitting at a computer typing reports no one reads. That would be very dull viewing.

Btw I didn’t realise until I was an adult that everyone else didnt have both black and white dolls as children.

It seems odd SL character was talking about the foster/adoption family and a blue-eyed Jesus. She would know they were atheists even if she did not know the grandfather was a Christian.

It felt like a pre-prepared speech.

I hope we will actually find out what happened in the end!

To me it also feels odd the foster mum would not at least tall to the grandfather about the funeral knowing he was still next of kin.

They had fostered her for five years, I wonder why the delay in applying to adopt or why the delay in being allowed to do so. I wonder how real that is? I've no experience of fosters adopting.

@willstarttomorrow most welcome.

I think the lack of SGO (if you mean from within the family) was because the birth mum was dead and so was birth maternal grandmother, birth father in prison, paternal birth grandfather didn't want to take her in, neither did the maternal birth grandmother, and no mention of the maternal birth grandfather or any aunts or uncles.

In those circumstances would she really be kept in foster care for 5 years if foster family wanted to adopt her?

Must go to bed! Night all

Italian-sorry have not worked out how to highlight. SGO was in regards to the foster carers. More likely than adoption in this case, (assuming it is the real world not a drama)!

Kiri came into care around five years ago, so before the ruling speeding up court proceedings said that it had to be done in twenty six weeks. So it would not have been that unusual for Kiri to have been in the care proceedings for two years before a placement order was granted. They would then have looked for an adoptive family for her, (birth relatives and connections having already been explored) at six she would likely have been categorised as hard to place. The foster family may not have asked to be considered as her adoptive family till after a year or more of unproductive family finding. They would then have to make a formal application and be assessed as adopters. Although this has now been made easier for the foster carers of a child it is still time consuming and not high priority in an overworked environment as the child is already safe. Then there is the wait for a court date. In my experience as an adopter and foster carer all this could easily add up to five years.

I think that, as others have said, this is not a whodunnit but an exploration of caring, and racial issues, and adoption. So my money is on the actual murder being committed by an outsider, (or at a push the maternal gran).

Today the office has been mad and surreal as usual and I have always wondered why there has been no social worker equivelent of casualty and holby city I've always wondered why there isn't a foster care equivalent. (Actually I think I there was once but extremely short lived)

Thanks for your insight willstart

Yes good to have some professional input.

I had not remembered foster carers could get SGOs but actually now remember I think a friend had one!

@Verilyfrankinscensed she has been with foster carers 5 years - where was she before that, I wonder, with birth mum? When maternal grandmother was describing Kiri I thought maybe birth mum had died when she was a baby.but now I think not.

I do think everyone is being painted very badly here, which seems unfair.

Foster family wanted a sibling for their birth child. Sounds a bit selfish. But isn't that pretty much why most try for a second child! That's why we adopted ds! But of course he is child in his own right.

My money is on the foster father. Steven mackintosh doesn't usually do 'bit parts' so I can see his role becoming more prominent in the next two episodes. The character has been too much in the shadows and peripheral so far.