Below is a list of documentaries, movies, and TV shows that can provide great insight about common issues that may arise during your time as a CASA. Time spent watching these can be counted as in-service credit. Click the underlined title to see where it is streaming.
Find Me
Adoption "Find Me is a heartwarming drama that follows three families as they adopt children from China. This feature-length documentary film journeys with them as they seek to discover the back story of those who loved them first.We don't have any crew added to this movie. You can help by adding some!" |
Lion
Adoption "A five-year-old Indian boy gets lost on the streets of Calcutta, thousands of kilometers from home. He survives many challenges before being adopted by a couple in Australia; 25 years later, he sets out to find his lost family." |
Juno
Adoption "Faced with an unplanned pregnancy, an offbeat young woman makes an unusual decision regarding her unborn child." |
I Am Somebody's Child
Aging out of foster care "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. After Jeanne’s unsuccessful attempt to adopt Regina due to a racially motivated ruling, their bond is forced apart." |
Lady Bird
Family Dynamics “A warm, affecting comedy about a high school senior (Saoirse Ronan) who 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.” |
Moonlight
Sexual Abuse/ LGBTQ “A moving, transcendent, award-winning look at 3 defining chapters in the life of Chiron, a young man growing up in Miami. His epic journey to adulthood, as a shy outsider dealing with difficult circumstances, is guided by support, empathy and love from the most unexpected places.” |
Roma
Family Dynamics/Poverty "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." |
Precious
Domestic Violence/Teen Pregnancy "In New York's Harlem circa 1987, 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." |
Beautiful Boy
Drug Addiction/ Recovery “Based on the best-selling pair of memoirs from father and son David and Nic Sheff, Beautiful Boy chronicles the heartbreaking and inspiring experience of survival, relapse, and recovery in a family coping with addiction over many years.” |
Leave No Trace
Homelessness "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. But when a small mistake tips them off to authorities, they are sent on an increasingly erratic journey in search of a place to call their own." |
Winter's Bone
Poverty/Criminal Activity “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.” |
Captain Fantastic
Family Dynamics/ Parental Death “In the forests of the Pacific Northwest, 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.” |
Room
Domestic Violence "Jack is a young boy of 5 years old who has lived all his life in one room. He believes everything within it are the only real things in the world. But what will happen when his Ma suddenly tells him that there are other things outside of Room?" |
I am Jane Doe
Sex Trafficking "Chronicles the epic battle that several American mothers are waging on behalf of their middle-school daughters, victims of sex-trafficking on Backpage.com, the adult classifieds section that for years was part of the Village Voice." |
Tallulah
Neglect "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." |
Daughters of Destiny
Education "Five girls from India's most impoverished families attend a boarding school designed to create opportunities as they strive for a brighter future." |
The Kid With A Bike
Abandonment "Abandoned by his father, a young boy is left in the hands of an unqualified childcare provider." |
The Pursuit of Happyness
Poverty "A struggling salesman takes custody of his son as he's poised to begin a life-changing professional career." |
When They See Us
Cultural Awareness "Five teens from Harlem become trapped in a nightmare when they are falsely accused of a brutal attack in Central Park." |
Black Or White
Kinship Foster Care "A grieving widower is drawn into a custody battle over his granddaughter, whom he helped raise her entire life." |
Glass Castle
Family Dynamics "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 drunkard, ingenious father who distracts her with magical stories to keep her mind off the family's dire state, and her selfish, nonconformist mother who has no intention of raising a family, along with her younger brother and sister, and her other older sister. Together, they fend for each other as they mature in an unorthodox journey that is their family life." |
Losing Isaiah
Abandonment "Khaila Richards, a crack-addicted single mother, accidentally leaves her baby in a dumpster while high and returns the next day in a panic to find he is missing. In reality, the baby has been adopted by a warm-hearted social worker, Margaret Lewin, and her husband, Charles. Years later, Khaila has gone through rehab and holds a steady job. After learning that her child is still alive, she challenges Margaret for the custody." |
Honey Boy
Emotional Abuse/Neglect "The story of a child star attempting to mend his relationship with his law-breaking, alcohol-abusing father over the course of a decade, loosely based on Shia LaBeouf’s life." |
I Am Sam
Mental Disability "Although Sam has the mental capacity of a 7-year-old, he has a daughter with a homeless woman who abandons them when they leave the hospital, leaving Sam to raise Lucy on his own. But as Lucy grows up, Sam's limitations start to become a problem and the authorities take her away. Sam shames high-priced lawyer, Rita into taking his case pro bono and in turn teaches her the value of love and family." |
White Oleander
Foster Care "A teenager journeys through a series of foster homes after her mother goes to prison for committing a crime of passion." |
Shazam!
Foster Care "A boy is given the ability to become an adult superhero in times of need with a single magic word." |
Marriage Story
Custody/Family Dynamics "A stage director and an actress struggle through a grueling, coast-to-coast divorce that pushes them to their personal extremes." |
Anne With An "E"
Adoption "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." |
13 Reasons Why
Mental Health "Why did Hannah Baker take her own life? Her classmates all have secrets... and the truth is about to come out." |
The Trials Of Gabriel Fernandez
Foster Care "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 Pharmacist
Substance Abuse "After his son's tragic death, a Louisiana pharmacist goes to extremes to expose the rampant corruption behind the opioid addiction crisis." |
I Am Not Your Negro
Race/Cultural Awareness “Director Raoul Peck envisions the book James Baldwin never finished, Remember This House. It is a journey into black history that connects the Civil Rights movement to #Black LivesMatter. It questions black representation in Hollywood and beyond.” |
Surviving R. Kelly
Sexual abuse/ Trafficking “Series examining the controversies surrounding R&B singer R. Kelly.” |
Abducted In Plain Sight
Sexual Abuse/Trafficking "The Twisting, turning, stranger-than-fiction 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." |
Babies Behind Bars Incarceration "Follows pregnancy and birth in prison, including the 'Wee Ones' program at the women's prison in Indiana, in which well-behaved prisoners are allowed to keep their babies in a nursery wing with other inmates as nannies." |
The Act
Emotional Abuse "A seasonal anthology series that tells startling, stranger-than-fiction true crime stories with the first season following Gypsy Blanchard, a girl trying to escape the toxic relationship she has with her overprotective mother." |
Unbelievable
Foster Care/ Trauma "A teenager is charged with lying about her rape allegation, but two determined investigative female detectives discover a far more sinister truth." |
Heroin(E)
Substance Abuse "This documentary follows three women -- a fire chief, a judge and a street missionary -- as they battle West Virginia's devastating opioid epidemic." |
Broken Places
Foster Care/ Trauma "An exploration into why some children are severely damaged by early adversity while others are able to thrive. By revisiting childhood trauma victims profiled decades ago, we learn how their experiences shaped their lives as adults." |
East Lake Meadows
Poverty/ Cultural Awareness "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, with special emphasis on the activism of Eva Davis asserting the rights of the tenants." |
Closure
Trans-Racial Adoption "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. A story about identity, the complexities of trans-racial adoption, and most importantly, CLOSURE." |
Babies
Development "From nature to nurture, this docuseries explores the groundbreaking science that reveals how infants discover life during their very first year." |
Out Of Omaha
Poverty "An intimate portrait of twin brothers Darcell and Darrell Trotter, two young black men coming of age in North Omaha. Connecting us deeply to its heroes, OUT OF OMAHA takes concepts like inequality, racial disparity, and economic opportunity out of the abstract, showing what these large-scale phenomena look like when they are experienced by individual human beings." |
13th
Cultural Awareness "An in-depth look at the prison system in the United States and how it reveals the nation's history of racial inequality." |
Mom
Substance Abuse "An irreverent and outrageous take on true family love‐and dysfunction. Newly sober single mom Christy struggles to raise two children in a world full of temptations and pitfalls. Testing her sobriety is her formerly estranged mother, now back in Christy's life and eager to share passive-aggressive insights into her daughter's many mistakes." |
The Fosters
Foster Care/ LGBTQ "Stef Foster and her partner Lena Adams have built a close-knit, loving family with Stef's biological son from a previous marriage, Brandon, and their adopted twins, Mariana and Jesus. Their lives are disrupted in unexpected ways when Lena meets Callie, a hardened teen with an abusive past who has spent her life in and out of foster homes. Lena and Stef welcome Callie and her brother, Jude, into their home thinking it's just for a few weeks, until a more permanent placement can be found." |
This is Us
Foster Care/ Family Dynamics "Follows the lives and families of three adults living and growing up in the United States of America in present and past times. 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." |
Law and Order: SVU
Criminal Justice "In the criminal justice system, sexually-based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories." |
Party of Five
Deportation/ Abandonment "The five Acosta children navigate daily life struggles to survive as a family unit after their parents are suddenly deported back to Mexico." |
Hello, Privilege. It's Me, Chelsea.
Race Relations "In this documentary, Chelsea Handler explores how white privilege impacts US culture – and the ways it’s benefited her own life and career." |
Raising Dion
Single Parenthood "A widowed mom sets out to solve the mystery surrounding her young son's emerging superpowers while keeping his extraordinary gifts under wraps." |
Imperial Dreams
Single Parenthood/ Incarceration "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." |
6 Balloons
Substance Abuse "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." |
Oprah Winfrey Presents: When They See US Now
Cultural Awareness "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"." |
Zion
Physical Disability "A portrait of Zion Clark, a young wrestler who was born without legs and grew up in foster care." |
Homeless: The Motel Kids of Orange County
Homelessness "A documentary that explores the world of children who reside in discounted motels within walking distance of Disneyland, living in limbo as their families struggle to survive in one of the wealthiest regions of America. The parents of motel kids are often hard workers who don't earn enough to own or rent homes. As a result, they continue to live week-to-week in motels, hoping against hope for an opportunity that might allow them to move up in the O.C." |
|
|
|
|
|
Finding the Way Home
Fostercare/ Adoption "A look at the distressing circumstances for millions of children living in orphanages and other institutions around the world as J.K. Rowling's LUMOS foundation works to reunite them with family members or place them in foster homes." |
Life According to Sam
Disability "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. Sam was diagnosed with progeria at age two, the prognosis was grim. Follow he and his families journey." |
Journey into Dyslexia
Learning Disability "Addresses misunderstandings of learning differences and demonstrates potential in dyslexic persons." |
|
|
|
|
|
John Lewis: Good Trouble
Cultural Awareness "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 and make him such a galvanizing figure today as protests circle the globe. Lewis’ schedule has increased ten-fold as he has become the go-to figure for TV news shows, podcasts and newspapers and magazines from the Washington Post to Vanity Fair, commenting on and leading the way forward through today’s worldwide protests and demonstrations." |
How to Dance in Ohio
Autism "In Columbus, Ohio, a group of autistic teenagers and young adults role-play this transition by going through the deceptively complex social interactions of preparing for a spring formal. Focusing on several young women as they go through an iconic American rite of passage, we are given intimate access to people who are often unable to share their experiences with others. With humor and heartbreak, 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." |
Che Ride
Transracial Foster Care "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. Eldridge makes it his mission to overcome the challenges of John's white supremacist upbringing, slowly beginning to forge a relationship through his foster son's fascination with extreme sports and BMX biking. Rooted by this newfound passion, the family builds a bond of mutual respect, love and redemption." |
Beauty Mark
Single Parenthood/ Trauma "Angie, a poverty-stricken young mother, is taking care of her son and alcoholic mother when she is evicted from her house. Now she has to get money from the only person she knows with any - the man who abused her as a child." |
|
|
|
|
|
Herself
Single Parenthood/Poverty "Struggling to provide her daughters with a safe, happy home, Sandra decides to build one - from scratch. Using all her ingenuity to make her ambitious dream a reality, Sandra draws together a community to lend a helping hand to build her house and ultimately recover her own sense of self." |
Time
Incarceration "Fox Rich, indomitable matriarch and modern-day abolitionist, strives to keep her family together while fighting for the release of her incarcerated husband. An intimate, epic, and unconventional love story, filmed over two decades." |
Between the World and Me
Cultural Awareness "Based on Ta-Nehisi Coates’ #1 New York Times bestseller and originally adapted and staged by the Apollo Theater, this special combines elements of that production - including powerful readings from Coates’ book - with documentary footage from the actors’ home life, archival footage, and animation." |
Boy Interrupted
Mental Health "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 moving film is the story, told by his filmmaker parents and others who knew him, of Evan’s life and death, and his life-long struggle with bipolar disorder. It delves into the complexity of Evan's disease, sharing his family's journey through the maze of mental illness. In showing how one family deals with generations of loss and grief, the film defies the stigma related to mental illness and suicide and tells a human story that touches everyone." |
|
|
|
|
|
Its Kind of a Funny Story
Mental Health "A clinically depressed teenager gets a new start after he checks himself into an adult psychiatric ward." |
Homeless
Homelessness "After the death of his grandmother, an 18 year-old boy lives in a homeless shelter." |
Heroin Cape Cod, USA
Drug Addiction "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." |
Abortion: Stories Women Tell
Abortion "A thought-provoking look at the subject of abortion today, told through the stories of women struggling with unplanned pregnancies, abortion providers and clinic staff and activists on both sides of this contentious debate." |
Annie
Foster Care "Annie is a young, happy foster kid who's also tough enough to make her way on the streets of New York in 2014. 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. But everything's about to change when the hard-nosed tycoon and New York mayoral candidate Will Stacks makes a thinly-veiled campaign move and takes her in." |
Antwone Fisher
Mental Health "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. Through the guidance of his doctor, he confronts his painful past and begins a quest to find the family he never knew." |
Secondhand Lions
Abandonment "The comedic adventures of an introverted boy left on the doorstep of a pair of reluctant, eccentric great-uncles, whose exotic remembrances stir the boy's spirit and re-ignite the men's lives." |
The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete
Abandonment "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." |
Spotlight
Sexual Abuse "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." |
15 Minutes of Shame
Cyber Bullying "A timely, eye-opening roller-coaster ride through the world of public shaming. Examine social behavior by embedding with individuals from across the U.S. who have been publicly shamed or cyber-harassed – while exploring the bullies, the bystanders, the media, psychologists, politicians and experts in between." |
Wonder
Disability "The story of August Pullman – a boy with facial differences – who enters fifth grade, attending a mainstream elementary school for the first time." |
Tulsa
Reunification "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." |
The Broken Rose
Foster Care "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?" |
Jacinta
Trauma "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." |
Reservation Dogs
Troubled Teens "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." |
Eight Grade
Troubled Teens "Thirteen-year-old 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." |
Four Good Days
Substance Abuse "A mother helps her daughter work through four crucial days of recovery from substance abuse." |
Ben is Back
Family Dynamics "19-year-old Ben Burns unexpectedly returns home to his family's suburban home on Christmas Eve morning. Ben's mother, Holly, is relieved and welcoming but wary of her son staying clean. Over a turbulent 24 hours, new truths are revealed, and a mother's undying love for her son is tested as she does everything in her power to keep him safe." |
All Together Now
Homelessness "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?" |
Stepmom
Family Dynamics "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. But when Jackie discovers she is ill, both women realise they must put aside their differences to find a common ground and celebrate life to the fullest, while they have the chance." |
All Day and a Night
Incarceration "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." |
The Invisible Man
Domestic Violence "When Cecilia's abusive ex takes his own life and leaves her his fortune, she suspects his death was a hoax. As a series of coincidences turn lethal, Cecilia works to prove that she is being hunted by someone nobody can see." |
Gimme Shelter
Abandonment "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." |
Good Will Hunting
Gifted Learning "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 by Professor Gerald Lambeau, who decides to help the misguided youth reach his potential. When Will is arrested for attacking a police officer, Professor Lambeau makes a deal to get leniency for him if he will get treatment from therapist Sean Maguire." |
Mommy Dead and Dearest
Child Abuse "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 life that turned out to be a living nightmare." |
Cider House Rules
Foster Care "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, who becomes a skilled, albeit unlicensed, physician. But Homer yearns for a self-chosen life outside the orphanage. What will Homer learn about life and love in the cider house? What of the destiny that Dr. Larch has planned for him?" |
Great Gilly Hopkins
Foster Care "Wisecracking, gum-chewing 12-year-old 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. After all, how can she settle down when her real mother, the beautiful and glamourous Courtney, might be out there waiting for her? When Gilly is sent to live with the Trotters, the weirdest family yet, she isn’t planning to stick around. But cheerful, affectionate Maime Trotter isn’t giving up on Gilly just yet..." |
The Unloved
Foster Care "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. Lucy is eleven years old. Having been neglected by her estranged mother and father, she is placed in a children's home. Through her eyes, we follow Lucy's struggle to cope with the system. Her saving is her self-belief and her certainty that she is being watched over and protected by the holy spirit. Hers is a heroic quest for love, beauty and transcendence." |
Foster Boy
Foster Care/ Incarceration "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, which leads to catastrophic results." |
Foster
Foster Care/ Adoption "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., a number that continues to grow each year. Drawing on unprecedented access, FOSTER explores the often-misunderstood world of foster care through compelling stories from the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, the largest county child welfare agency in the country." |
Which Way Home
Immigration "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." |
Maid
Poverty "After fleeing an abusive relationship, a young mother finds a job cleaning houses and fights to provide a better future for her child." |
The Blind Side
Adoption "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. |
October Baby
Adoption "OCTOBER BABY is the coming of age story of a beautiful and naive 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." |
Manchester By The Sea
Guardianship “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.” |
Short Term 12
Children in State Placements "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." |
August Rush
Abandonment "An orphaned musical prodigy uses his gift as a clue to finding his birth parents." |
The Florida Project
Neglect “Set on a stretch of highway in a budget motel managed by Bobby (a career-best Willem Dafoe), just outside the imagined utopia of Disney World, The Florida Project follows 6-year-old Moonee and her rebellious mother over the course of a single summer.” |
Instant Family
Adoption "When Pete and Ellie decide to start a family, they stumble into the world of foster care adoption. They hope to take in one small child but when they meet three siblings, including a rebellious 15 year old girl, they find themselves speeding from zero to three kids overnight." |
I, Tonya
Abuse/ Mental Health "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." |