Adopting Abroad: Saira's Story

Saira Khan travels alone to Karachi, Pakistan - one of the most dangerous countries in the world - to try and adopt a baby from the Edhi Orphanage. Worries about security mean she is forced to leave her two-year-old son and her husband behind in Oxford. She has no idea how long she may have to be away. How will the family cope being 5,000 miles apart? Will Saira be able to bring home the baby girl they all long to meet? Under pressure in a volatile city like Karachi, Saira doesn't even know if she will be given a baby at all. Unable to go out due to security risks, she waits in her hotel for a call to tell her a baby has been left at the orphanage. After just six days the call comes through... A three-day-old baby girl has been abandoned. For Saira, it's time to meet her daughter. It is now she has to face her worst fears. Will the baby she is given be healthy? Should she accept this baby whatever? What will it mean for her and her family? Can she actually take someone else's baby? Confronted at last with the daughter she has longed for and fought so hard to get, she realises that the baby she is being offered is dangerously weak. She may not have been fed in the first few days of her life. There is no choice but to rush to the hospital. As Steve sits by the phone in Oxford, desperate for news, Saira can only wait while doctors fight to save their daughter.

These two 60-minute documentaries follow Saira Khan and her husband Steve on their journey to adopt a baby girl from an orphanage in Karachi, Pakistan. The first programme follows the couple as they embark on the rigorous UK adoption process. Even though they hope to get a baby from the Edhi Orphanage in Karachi, they have to go through the same home study as anyone who wants to adopt within the UK. Over eight months, they undergo visits lasting three hours from their social worker every fortnight, where they're asked to open up every aspect of their lives, backgrounds and relationships. As the couple have many questions about what will happen in Pakistan, Saira contacts a couple who have already adopted two children from the Edhi Orphanage. Sobia and Amjad have a son and a daughter. However, their daughter has the genetic blood disorder, thalassaemia. They were not aware of it when they picked her up at the orphanage. After Saira and Steve visit the family, they realise that they too will have no idea of the medical history of any baby they are given. The problems of adopting in Pakistan continue to intensify. Then the country suffers one of the worst natural catastrophes of modern times; the floods leave 20 million people homeless. Saira and Steve have to make a tough decision. If and when they do travel to Karachi, Steve will have to stay behind in Oxford with their two-year-old son Zach. Saira will go on her own to try and find a baby. After appearing before an independent panel, they are finally approved. It is time for Saira to fly to Pakistan in search of a baby. She has no idea how long she might be away or even if she will be given a baby at all.