[JPDakota]

You know, its hard to say very much without offending someone. Adoption is a very emotionally charged issue from lots of angles.
First to one of Brandy's points. Don't ever feel very educated by what you see in the media. Their job is not to educate us. Their job is to get viewers. They get money from advertisers based on how many people view the commercials during their shows, or what their "rating" and "share" are. Its all about money. And sadly, Americans watch that which is sensational. Not all Americans, but a huge number of us. The public does not want the good news stuff. They vote by what they watch day in and day out. And the drive-by media has no honor en masse. Been there. Done that.
About the crook in the show not being a birth mother, you're absolutely right. She isn't. People don't always think about that term very carefully. I'm sure that's frustrating. Education is a process. That's easy for me to say, of course, because although I have a birth mother, I am not one.
I've heard the fear expressed before that some people are not comfortable with domestic adoption because they fear that the birth family will "show up" and "try to take the child back". I guess if that's the way they feel, then domestic adoption isn't for them. Its ok if they're not comfortable with domestic adoption. I mean, I don't think people should do that which causes them fear. Is that an educated approach? I don't think that matters, in that feelings are what they are.
I was scammed internationally and had a wonderful closed domestic adoption 2 years later. That's what we were comfortable with. Not everybody is.
So, I'm sorry in advance if I offended somebody. I'm sure I have. I always do.