Depictions of foster care adoption in fiction (TV, movies, novels, etc.)?

Kazi

A few episodes of Law & Order: SVU where a young girl was locked in a psyche ward because she accused her foster parents of abuse (they did it by the way). And then there was the little boy with severe rage who was being fostered by the man (Luke Perry) that actually raped his mother. Episode of Millennium where the young man who aged out of foster care got his kicks out of attending funerals with his serial killer best friend. The majority of depictions IMO have been negative. The children are damaged beyond repair.

There are also vampire foster kids, as Dr. Cullen and his wife were "foster parents" to a gaggle of young vamps in the Twilight saga.

Looney Tunes

There probably are not many because most "older kids" that you could write a story about DON'T get adopted.
The babies and the toddlers get adopted and....."everything is great and not movie-worth in these cases......"

Although I do believe that Rosie ODingo is producing a movie for Lifetime this feb-march about foster kids, don't know if they get adopted...but I doubt it cause they are older....

Notice in Martian Child, the child was "strange" and in the Judging Amy episodes, that girl was a gang-banger (who I believe IRL got shot and killed).......

===========
ETA:
Independent - "bad table manners" - ROFL, LOL, LOL

BOTZ

Stuart Little, Problem Child, Annie...those are the ones that spring right to mind.

I don't think they are realistic (with one tiny exception) because nobody sang about it ("Maybe", "Tomorrow", "We got Annie!") any of the times I have witnessed children being adopted from foster care and Stuart Little was a mouse being adopted by humans.

The one realistic thing I saw was in the movie Problem Child, when the fost-adopt father (played by John Ritter) was told how many homes the child had been in previously. I don't remember the number but it seems like it was in the 20s. That seems pretty realistic (for some kids).

Oh...Martian Child -- that's another one, although I haven't seen it. It stars John Cusack. Oh...and there was an Adam Sandler one (although I'm not sure the child was actually a foster child)...Big Daddy, I think...or something like that. I just realized something very interesting -- In only one of these movies was there an a-mother involved, all the others were adopted (or not) by single men. Huh...that must be a selling point for a movie. I know Disney loves single fathers and dead mothers.

ETA: Just thought of a couple more -- Anne of Green Gables (though I don't believe she was actually adopted) and Pictures of Hollis Woods.

Flying Monkey #073177

Anne of Green Gables was adopted by Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert from an orphanage in Nova Scotia. This one might be accurate for the time it was set in but not now.

Punky Brewster is another one. She wasn't actually adopted but I seem to recall their being some discussion about it. I think in some ways this show was realistic. The social worker is a bully, the child has no say in her own life and it seems like the system is a big, broken mess. In other ways I think it was a bit gushy and mushy but it certainly hit home for me at that age.

Angela R

I just watched a movie on Lifetime that was pretty good called "Gracie's Choice". It was based on a true story about a teenage girl who fought to adopt her three younger siblings after her mother repeatedly neglected them, stole from them, ended up in jail, and then tried to get back custody. I thought it was a pretty realistic depiction, and the girl was able to legally adopt her brothers in the end.

Independ"ant"

I think this episode on Boston Legal pretty much sums up one false stereotype......couldn't find a video but here's the transcript.

Turnip Grave is the foster kid.
He's portrayed as a mugger,thief and liar with bad table manners.

http://boston-legal.org/script/BL05x10.pdf

icehockeymom7

I don't think I have seen anything about adoption out of foster care that I can think of....I wish there were more. I do know that I was extremely irritated with how China adoption was portrayed on "The Simpsons" (I know, everything is supposed to be a joke on that show so I should have not expected it to be a real depiction) and on "King of Queens". I watched both of those shows and thought to myself "Did anyone even TRY to find out about the process of China adoption before writing this script?" Ugh.

Randy B

I'm not familiar with any but it would be interesting to see what others come up with.

Shannon

In the current plot line of a TV show called "House," the supervising doctor (Cuddy?) is currently a foster mother to an infant.

House is a medical drama. A young girl came into the hospital with some problems and it turns out that she had something related to pregnancy. She had the baby in an abandoned home and left it there crying as she felt she had nowhere to turn. (Her parents did not know she was pregnant, neither did the father of the child) The supervisor lady went to the abandoned home the girl described to find a homeless family there taking care of the infant. She gave the baby to the girl in the hospital prior to her dying. The maternal and paternal grandparents did not want the baby. They did not say anything about the teen father's wishes (which made me very mad). Apparently the system allowed this supervisor lady to take the baby home with her (and I think it hinted at changing the child's name). In the last episode, it covered the home inspection from the foster system and that is it so far. The previews suggest that she will be taking leave from her job in the next episode. It is an ongoing storyline. (This same woman tried to adopt an infant, but the girl decided to parent in an earlier episode this season.)

I do not feel it is quite realistic because it just is not this easy or fast to get things rolling usually. (She was not approved to be a foster parent at all as far as I know prior to this child coming to the show- the home inspection was done while the baby was already there etc) I am glad that they decided to make it so that she is fostering first though because it would truly be unrealistic if the girl was adopted already.

Opedial

We watch reruns of judging Amy each night.

God, when I was young there was a show (in Canada) about a youth ranch that had some stories about this. (which ones??)

There was a video in my adoption training, but that was rather specific.

I don't know of others.

Enter Your Message or Comment

User Name:
User Email:
Post a comment: