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CNN Live Today

Interview with Melissa Gilbert, Host, 'Adoption'

Aired May 31, 2002 - 10:35   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Now, we want to take an intimate look into the world of adoptions. The emotional process, which was once very secretive, has now become more open. The Hallmark Channel is bringing us the stories of families who have made the choice in the TV series, "Adoption," and it will be hosted by actress Melissa Gilbert, who herself was adopted when she was one day old.

And she joins us live from Los Angeles. Thanks for joining us, and thanks for sticking around.

All right. Well, you were adopted as a child, so this topic is very close to home for you. Why did you feel like it was important to help spearhead a program on television that is reality based?

MELISSA GILBERT, HOST, "ADOPTION": Well, I think it is important to bring attention to the issue of adoption. You know, we've reached sort of a critical mass in the foster care system, and there are so many children in this country alone that need homes, and that need to -- and want to do -- have nothing in their lives but a family.

And, really, when you think about that, it's an investment in our future, in the future of our world. And all children deserve that, and should have that. There are a lot of myths attached to adoption, a lot of mysteries, and I think that this series really does away with all of that. It's a very honest, very sometimes brutal portrayal of what these people have gone through. People who have adopted, people who have given up children, children who have done searches as they've grown up for their biological families.

WHITFIELD: And this is not a made for television movie format.

GILBERT: No.

WHITFIELD: This really is a reality-based program. You are -- the camera, you know, are your eyes. You are looking at the point of view from those who are trying to adopt, to the surrogate mothers, et cetera; correct?

GILBERT: It is absolutely unscripted, 100 percent real. What these people are going through, they are going through, and they've allowed us to go through it with them. They've allowed us the experience as an audience of watching a family become a family through the process of adoption.

WHITFIELD: So how did you approach people to reveal their lives, these very intimate portrayals of their experiences?

GILBERT: I think that people who are involved in adoption, who are adopted, or have adopted, understand how special it is, and how vital it is to our future, and I think that they have an appreciation and an understanding in a way that other people really don't of -- of the import of this on us as human beings on a global level. I hate to get that kind of spiritual and kind of big with it, but it's true.

And I think that when a person has adopted, they want to share that experience, because it is so monumental and because I think they feel that other people need to have this experience too. And it's hard to relate to unless you've been through it, so I can understand why they would want to tell their stories to others.

WHITFIELD: At the same time, there is nothing sterile, there is nothing glamorous about this process, and this is really in your face, isn't it, about just how emotional this process can be for all parties?

GILBERT: Yes, it doesn't sugarcoat the issue at all. This is a raw, real, emotionally wrenching look at the process of adoption, from all the different angles. I -- you know, in one episode -- there was one episode that I watched where we follow a birth mother as she chooses the family she is going to give her child away to, and the cameras were in the room when the baby was born, and interviewed and talked to the mother right after. And she was very, very emotional, and very honest.

These are -- these are some courageous people. Particularly for me, the people who love these children so much they're willing to let them go. That, to me, is a miracle, and a great, great gift that I was given by my birth mother.

WHITFIELD: Now, who are you hoping this is going to benefit most?

GILBERT: Children. Children who need homes. Children who need families. All of those children who are out there, waiting for someone to love them.

WHITFIELD: Do you expect this is going to change the minds of any families who have contemplated, but then perhaps have some trepidation about the idea of adoption?

GILBERT: I think so. I think that the success stories far outweigh the -- not failures, but the stories that don't necessarily have such a happy ending. And I think that as time has passed, adoption has become easier, but it's a constant fight to make it even easier still.

So the more attention we bring to it, the more out in the open this subject matter is, the easier it is going to be to go through the process in the future. We need to get the attention of legislators and reexamine all of these laws and the legal hoops that we have to jump through. WHITFIELD: All right. Melissa Gilbert, thank you very much. It's called "Adoption" on the Hallmark Channel. It airs Saturday, June 1 between 8:00 and 9:30 PM Eastern time. A ninety minute special followed by a series premier between 8:00 and 9:00 on Sunday, June 2. Thanks very much for joining us.

GILBERT: Thank you.

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