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Informative Movies and Documentaries

Visual storytelling can be an impactful way to understand the complexities of the child welfare system and the experiences of children in foster care. Our curated list of movies, shows, and documentaries offers deep insights into the challenges and triumphs within our field. Watching these recommended resources will not only fulfill your continuing education hours but also inspire and motivate you in your advocacy work.

Abandonment

August Rush

"An orphaned musical prodigy uses his gift as a clue to finding his birth parents."

Four Good Days

"A mother helps her daughter work through four crucial days of recovery from substance abuse."

Losing Isaiah

"A single mother, accidentally leaves her baby in a dumpster while high and adopted by a social worker. After learning that her child is still alive, she challenges the custody."

Secondhand Lion

"The adventures of a boy left on the doorstep of a pair of reluctant, eccentric great-uncles, whose remembrances stir the boy's spirit and re-ignite the men's lives."

The Kid With A Bike

"Abandoned by his father, a young boy is left in the hands of an unqualified childcare provider."

Gimme Shelter

"After running away from her abusive mother, a streetwise teen seeks refuge with her father, but he rejects her when he learns that she's pregnant."

The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete

"Coming of age story about two inner city youths, who are left to fend for themselves over the summer after their mothers are taken away by the authorities."

Party of Five

"The five Acosta children navigate daily life struggles to survive as a family unit after their parents are suddenly deported back to Mexico."

Addiction & Recovery

6 Balloons

"Over the course of one night, a woman drives across LA with her heroin addict brother in search of a detox center, with his two-year-old daughter in tow."

Heroin(E)

"This documentary follows three women -- a fire chief, a judge and a street missionary -- as they battle West Virginia's devastating opioid epidemic."

The Pharmacist

"After his son's tragic death, a Louisiana pharmacist goes to extremes to expose the rampant corruption behind the opioid addiction crisis."

Beautiful Boy

"What had happened to my beautiful boy? To our family? What did I do wrong? Those are the questions that haunted David's journey through his son's addiction to drugs."

Heroin Cape Code, USA

"An unvarnished look at the heroin epidemic sweeping America's small towns and communities, focusing on on eight young addicts in idyllic Cape Cod, Mass."

Adoption

Anne With An E

"A plucky orphan whose passions run deep finds an unlikely home with a spinster and her soft-spoken bachelor brother. Based on Anne of Green Gables."

Closure

"A documentary about a trans-racial adoptee who finds her birth mother, and meets the rest of a family who didn't know she existed, including her birth father."

Finding the Way Home

"A look at the distressing circumstances for millions of children living in orphanages and other institutions around the world as LUMOS foundation works to reunite them."

Lion

"A five-year-old boy gets lost on the streets of Calcutta. He survives many challenges before being adopted by a couple in Australia; 25 years later, he sets out to find his lost family."

The Blind Side

"The story of Michael Oher, a homeless and traumatized boy who became an All American football player and first round NFL draft pick with the help of a caring woman and her family."

Find Me

"A heartwarming drama that follows three families as they adopt children from China. This documentary journeys with them as they seek the back story of those who loved them first."

Instant Family

"When Pete and Ellie decide to start a family, they stumble into the world of adoption. When they meet three siblings, they find themselves from zero to three kids overnight."

October Baby

"A coming of age story of a college freshman who discovers that her entire life is a lie and sets out on a road trip with a host of misfits to discover herself and the answers she craves."

Brain Development

Babies

"From nature to nurture, this docuseries explores the groundbreaking science that reveals how infants discover life during their very first year."

Good Will Hunting

"Will Hunting has a genius-level IQ but chooses to work as a janitor at MIT. When he solves a difficult graduate-level math problem, his talents are discovered."

Cultural Awareness

13th

"An in-depth look at the prison system in the United States and how it reveals the nation's history of racial inequality."

Between the World and Me

"Based on Ta-Nehisi Coates’ New York Times bestseller and originally adapted by the Apollo Theater, this special combines elements of that production"

Hello Privilege.
It's Me Chelsea.

"In this documentary, Handler explores how white privilege impacts US culture – and the ways it’s benefited her own life."

Good Trouble

"The documentary illuminates the 80-year-old Congressman’s life as it chronicles the moments on the extraordinary journey that have shaped his place in history"

When They See Us

"Five teens from Harlem become trapped in a nightmare when they are falsely accused of a brutal attack in Central Park."

Abortion: Stories Women Tell

"A look at the subject of abortion, told through the stories of women struggling with unplanned pregnancies, abortion providers and clinic staff and activists"

East Lake Meadows

"The history of the East Lake Meadows public housing project in Atlanta and the people who lived there from 1970 to its demolition in 2000."

I Am Not Your Negro

"It is a journey into black history that connects the Civil Rights movement to #BlackLivesMatter. It questions black representation in Hollywood and beyond.”

Which Way Home

"Which Way Home" is a feature documentary film that follows unaccompanied child migrants, on their journey through Mexico, as they try to reach the United States."

When They See Us Now

"Oprah Winfrey talks with the exonerated men once known as the Central Park Five, plus the cast and producers who tell their story in "When They See Us"."

Disabilities

How to Dance in Ohio

"How to Dance in Ohio shows the daily courage of people facing their fears and opening themselves to the pain, worry, and joy of the social world."

Life According to Sam

"Progeria is an extremely rare and fatal disease, exemplified by accelerated aging in the children who are afflicted by it. There is no treatment. There is no cure."

Zion

"A portrait of Zion Clark, a young wrestler who was born without legs and grew up in foster care."

Journey into Dyslexia

"Addresses misunderstandings of learning differences and demonstrates potential in dyslexic persons."

Wonder

"The story of August Pullman – a boy with facial differences – who enters fifth grade, attending a mainstream elementary school for the first time."

Domestic Violence

The Invisible Man

"When Cecilia's abusive ex takes his own life and leaves her his fortune, she suspects his death was a hoax."

Room

"Jack is a young boy of 5 years old who has lived all his life in one room. But what will happen when his Ma suddenly tells him that there are other things outside of Room?"

Precious

"An overweight, abused, illiterate teen who is pregnant with her second child is invited to enroll in an alternative school in hopes that her life can head in a new direction."

Family Dynamics

Ben is Back

"19-year-old Ben Burns unexpectedly returns home to his family's suburban home on Christmas Eve morning."

Glass Castle

"A young girl is raised in a dysfunctional family constantly on the run from the FBI. Living in poverty, she comes of age guided by her parents who has no intention of raising a family."

Manchester by the Sea

“Casey Affleck leads an all-star cast in this acclaimed and poignant film about a solitary janitor whose life is transformed after he becomes the guardian of his 16-year-old nephew.”

Stepmom

"Jackie is a divorced mother of two. Isabel is the career minded girlfriend of Jackie’s ex-husband Luke, forced into the role of unwelcome stepmother to their children.

Tulsa

"A desperate marine biker’s life is turned upside-down when he is united with the sassy 9-year-old daughter he never knew existed."

Captain Fantastic

“A father devoted to raising his six kids with a rigorous physical and intellectual education is forced to leave his paradise and enter the world, challenging his idea of what it means to be a parent.”

Lady Bird

“A high school senior must navigate a loving but turbulent relationship with her strong-willed mother over the course of her eventful and poignant senior year of high school.”

Marriage Story

"A stage director and an actress struggle through a grueling, coast-to-coast divorce that pushes them to their personal extremes."

This Is Us

"As their paths cross and their life stories intertwine in curious ways, we find that several of them share the same birthday - and so much more than anyone would expect."

Foster Care

Annie

"Originally left by her parents as a baby with the promise that they'd be back for her someday, it's been a hard knock life ever since with her mean foster mom Miss Hannigan."

Broken Places

"An exploration into why some children are severely damaged by early adversity while others are able to thrive."

Cider House Rules

"Homer is an orphan who was never adopted, becoming the favorite of orphanage director Dr. Larch. Dr. Larch imparts his full medical knowledge on Homer."

Foster Boy

"A lawyer finds himself at the center of a trial in which a for-profit foster care agency puts a known sex offender into the same foster home as his young client Jamal."

I Am Somebody's Child

"The journey of a young African American girl who navigated over 30 foster homes and psychiatric facilities before age 18, and the one woman, Jeanne, who believed in her."

The Ride

After a violent, racially charged incident lands John in juvenile detention, he is finally placed with an unlikely set of foster parents, Eldridge and Marianna, an interracial couple."

The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez

"A boy’s brutal murder and the public trials of his guardians and social workers prompt questions about the system’s protection of vulnerable children."

The Unloved

"The Unloved is film that gives a child's eye view of the U.K.'s government-run care system for orphans and children in danger."

Black or White

"A grieving widower is drawn into a custody battle over his granddaughter, whom he helped raise her entire life."

The Broken Rose

"Rose is a young girl who has grown up in foster care. Desperate to escape an abusive situation, she is saved by an older man named Shaka, but at what price?"

Foster

"With one in eight American children suffering a confirmed case of neglect or abuse by age 18, there are currently more than 400,000 children in foster care in the U.S."

Great Gilly Hopkins

"Gilly is well known in the foster system. Totally unmanageable, she has stayed with more families than she can remember and has outwitted them all."

The Fosters

"A families lives are disrupted in unexpected ways when they meet Callie, a hardened teen with an abusive past who has spent her life in and out of foster homes."

Short Term 12

"A 20-something supervising staff member of a residential treatment facility navigates the troubled waters of that world alongside her co-worker and longtime boyfriend."

Unbelievable

"A teenager is charged with lying about her rape allegation, but two determined investigative female detectives discover a far more sinister truth."

White Oleander

"A teenager journeys through a series of foster homes after her mother goes to prison for committing a crime of passion."

Homelessness

All Together Now

"An optimistic, talented teen clings to a huge secret: she's homeless and living on a school bus. When tragedy strikes, can she learn to accept a helping hand?"

Leave No Trace

"A father and daughter live a perfect but mysterious existence in Forest Park, a beautiful nature reserve near Portland, Oregon, rarely making contact with the world."

Home Less

"After the death of his grandmother, an 18 year-old boy lives in a homeless shelter."

The Motel Kids of Orange County

"A documentary that explores the world of children who reside in discounted motels, living in limbo, struggling to survive in one of the wealthiest regions of America."

Incarceration

All Day and A Night

"While serving life in prison, a young man looks back at the people, the circumstances and the system that set him on the path toward his crime."

Imperial Dreams

"A 21-year-old reformed gangster's devotion to his family and his future is put to the test when he is released from prison and returns to his old stomping grounds in Watts, Los Angeles."

Babies Behind Bars

"Follows pregnancy and birth in prison, including the 'Wee Ones' program, in which prisoners are allowed to keep their babies in a nursery wing with other inmates as nannies."

Time

"Fox Rich, indomitable matriarch and modern-day abolitionist, strives to keep her family together while fighting for the release of her incarcerated husband."

Mental Health

13 Reasons Why

"Why did Hannah Baker take her own life? Her classmates all have secrets... and the truth is about to come out."

Antwone Fisher

"A sailor prone to violent outbursts is sent to a naval psychiatrist for help. Refusing at first to open up, the young man eventually breaks down and reveals a horrific childhood."

It's Kind of a Funny Stor

"A clinically depressed teenager gets a new start after he checks himself into an adult psychiatric ward."

15 Minutes of Shame

"Examine social behavior with individuals who have been publicly shamed or cyber-harassed – while exploring the bullies, bystanders, the media, psychologists, politicians and experts in between."

Boy Interrupted

"On the night of Oct. 2, 2005, Hart and Dana Perry's 15-year-old son Evan jumped to his death from his New York City bedroom window. This is their story."

I, Tonya

"Competitive ice skater Tonya Harding rises amongst the ranks at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, but her future in the activity is thrown into doubt when her ex-husband intervenes."

Neglect & Trauma

Beauty Mark

"A poverty-stricken mother, taking care of her son and alcoholic mother, is evicted from her house. Now she has to get money from the man who abused her as a child."

Honey Boy

"The story of a child star attempting to mend his relationship with his law-breaking, alcohol-abusing father over the course of a decade."

Mommy Dead and Dearest

"Child abuse, mental illness, and forbidden love converge in this mystery involving a mother and daughter who were thought to be living a fairy tale."

Spotlight

"The true story of how the Boston Globe uncovered the massive scandal of child molestation and cover-up within the local Catholic Archdiocese, shaking the entire Catholic Church to its core."

The Act

"A seasonal anthology series that tells startling, true crime stories following Gypsy Blanchard, a girl trying to escape the toxic relationship she has with her overprotective mother."

The Florida Project

“Set on a stretch of highway in a budget motel just outside the imagined utopia of Disney World, The Florida Project follows 6-year-old Moonee and her mother over the course of a single summer.”

Jacinta

"An astonishing record of the hereditary nature of trauma, Jacinta follows the lives of three generations of women struggling to find stability amid years of dependency."

Moonlight

"An epic journey to adulthood, as a shy outsider dealing with difficult circumstances, is guided by support, empathy and love from the most unexpected places.”

Tallulah

"Desperate to be rid of her toddler, a dissatisfied Beverly Hills housewife hires a stranger to babysit and ends up getting much more than she bargained for."

Poverty

All We Had

"A mother struggles to make a better life for her daughter."

Herself

"Struggling to provide her daughters with a safe, happy home, Sandra decides to build one - from scratch."

Out of Omaha

"It takes concepts like inequality, racial disparity, and economic opportunity out of the abstract, showing what these large-scale phenomena look like by individuals."

Roma

"Oscar winner Alfonso Cuaron delivers a vivid, emotional portrait of a domestic worker's journey set against domestic and political turmoil in 1970's Mexicos."

Daughters of Destiny

"Five girls from India's most impoverished families attend a boarding school designed to create opportunities as they strive for a brighter future."

Maid

"After fleeing an abusive relationship, a young mother finds a job cleaning houses and fights to provide a better future for her child."

The Pursuit of Happyness

"A struggling salesman takes custody of his son as he's poised to begin a life-changing professional career."

Winter's Bone

“An unflinching Ozark Mountain girl hacks through dangerous social terrain as she hunts down her drug-dealing father while trying to keep her family intact.”

Trafficking

I Am Jane Doe

"Chronicles the epic battle that several American mothers are waging on behalf of their middle-school daughters, victims of sex-trafficking on Backpage.com."

Abducted in Plain Sight

"The true story of the Brobergs, a naive, church-going Idaho family that fell under the spell of a sociopathic neighbor with designs on their twelve-year-old daughter."

Surviving R. Kelly

“Series examining the controversies surrounding R&B singer R. Kelly.”

Troubled Teens

Eighth Grade

"Kayla endures the tidal wave of contemporary suburban adolescence as she makes her way through the last week of middle school — the end of her thus far disastrous eighth grade year — before she begins high school."

Reservation Dogs

"This comedy follows the exploits of four Indigenous teenagers in rural Oklahoma who steal, rob and save in order to get to the exotic, mysterious and faraway land of California."

RESOURCES

Continuing Education

Thank you for engaging with our Read resources. To further enhance your advocacy skills and fulfill your continuing education requirements, be sure to explore our other educational materials. Visit our Resources page for more podcasts, movies, shows, and documentaries tailored to support your role as a CASA volunteer.

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