Verity's breaking point with her adopted son Liam came after she had already been threatened with knives and arrested by police following untrue allegations.
Her husband Ian recounts that she said at one point to a social worker: "What if we just can't do this any more?" He says the social worker's reply came without a moment's hesitation: "You'll be prosecuted for child abandonment."
Verity and Ian are just two of 50 parents the BBC has spoken to during a six-month investigation into why adoptive families are being broken apart and their children returned to care.
It has uncovered a hidden world where parents are subjected to lies and blame by authorities across the UK, as they struggle with the needs of traumatised children who have often suffered abuse and neglect before they were removed from their birth families.
Parents speak of being threatened, harassed and pushed into mental health crisis, while one adopted teenager who returned to care says that with more support his family might still be together now.
