A&E Series Review: “The Day I Picked My Parents” By Carrie Ontiveros, MA
The Day I Picked My Parents, a series by A&E, features Kidsave, a non-profit that works with older children in foster care who face challenges in finding families for placement and permanency. Season One of this series, released in 2019, has five episodes which features youth, who for their own reasons, are searching for permanency. Each youth’s history of challenges is discussed and provides insight into their desire for a forever family.
The Kidsave program is unique in that it allows the youth to make the choice of whether or not they are interested in pursuing a relationship with an interested potential parent or family. The series follows a total of ten youth, two per episode, as they meet families and decide if a family is a good fit for them and their needs. Each story features the perspectives of the potential parents and the youth. The Kidsave program allows these youth, who often have had very little say or choice in their foster care journey, to be the ones who decide their future. The series highlights heartwarming moments where the story follows the path we hope it will but also documents the real challenges of potential parents and youth and the resulting disappointments when things don’t go as planned. Please consider watching this series and tell a friend about it. It demonstrates the power of choice that all parents can learn from and, as the show documents; one never knows when they will be called to be a forever family!
The Day I Picked My Parents is available for livestreaming at: https://www.aetv.com/shows/the-day-i-picked-my-parents
