Researcher Emily shares her story of meeting, filming and befriending Jodi Orton, foster mum extraordinaire, and ultimately becoming one of the family:

When I heard we were flying to Kansas City the singing began in the office (‘Follow the yellow brick road’ and ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ being the favourites) and continued all the way to Kansas via Chicago. After a surprise meeting in the local Warsaw supermarket, We finally met our inspirational Foster Mother, Jodi. We were instantly part of the family, I was immediately given 1 month old DJ to hold and Sam was given to task of childminding 2 year old Gabe and 8 year old Lara, the beginning of our initiation into what would become our American family. We spent every day of the week with the family, sometimes from 7.30am till being fed at the family dinner table at 9pm. I became very fond of all the children from talking to the teenagers about their days at school to running in with the bottle for baby DJ every time we heard a cry. Being in Warsaw for Halloween was an amazing experience and we even managed to rummage through the fancy dress box and find a few spare outfits Sam a Pirate and me a Hogwarts quidditch player. The Orton house was picture perfect and the mini farm made for all the more fun and of course great shots. From visiting the beach to meeting the locals at the local store, we really became part of an amazing family’s life and captured some emotional and heart touching footage for ‘Choice Point’. When the time came to leave none of us wanted to say goodbye, we said our emotional farewells and departed for the airport with many wonderful memories to look back on.