Back in March of this year, I posted a link to a radio documentary titled Los Preciosos, written and produced for Irish radio by adoptive mother Jools Gilson, who lives with her husband and two Guatemalan-born children in County Cork.

On June 20, Los Preciosos won a Gold Award for Best Narration at the New York Festivals World’s Best Radio Gala. That’s Jools in the photos above, accepting the trophy.

An award for every adoption-related story is a victory for all of us. Congratulations, Jools!

Here’s the original post. In case you didn’t have a chance to listen before, please do so now. You’ll see why the piece earned Gold.

From County Cork in Ireland, adoptive mother Jools Gilson sent me the link to a radio broadcast she made for RTÉ Radio 1, Ireland – Documentary on One – the home of Irish radio documentaries. Los Preciosos tells the story of Gilson’s family: an English mother, an Italian father, and two Guatemalan children, all living in rural East Cork. Here’s the description:

“Los Preciosos means ‘the precious ones,’ and this documentary follows the story of years of assessment by domestic social workers, monumental bureaucracy in Ireland, England and Guatemala, and eventually traveling to bring the child home. And then there is another child…”

What I love about this broadcast is the warmth, perception, and honesty of the voices–Jools’s and her husband Vittorio’s–and the laughter of their children. In all the debate and controversy about international adoption, what often gets lost is that adoption is about family, and love, and a place to call home. Listening to this broadcast reminded me of how adoption transforms lives. We cherish our children, whether we live in County Cork or California.

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