Review by Betty Ann Streeter,\u00a0MSW, RSW, ADV.DIP.SW of\u00a0Milestones & Transitions<\/p>\n
Informed by the author\/director\u2019s experience of being an adoptive parent and the experience of a young woman who had spent time in foster care in the US,\u00a0 the full length\u00a0 movie\u00a0\u201c Instant Family \u201c<\/u><\/em><\/strong>\u00a0rings true to life.\u00a0 As a description of the early stages of the foster\/adoption placement of 3 siblings\u00a0 of different ages, the movie got it so right! The sensitivities of the foster\/adoptive parents from how they dealt with their feelings about not being able to become parents by birth, to their embrace of the role of foster\/adoptive parents, and to their need for acceptance from family and support from community, were entirely credible.\u00a0 Who among us could not identify with the mother\u2019s hurt\u00a0 when the younger girl called her husband \u201cDaddy\u201d and her joy when the boy said \u201c good night , Mommy\u201d.\u00a0 And are there foster\/adoptive parents having as their first placement a sibling group of 3 who have\u2019nt, at one time or another, secretly grieved their comfortable life prior to placement?<\/p>\n The behaviour of each of the 3 children was seen to be an age appropriate expression of the complex \u00a0trauma experienced by each child at different stages of development.\u00a0 15 year old Lizzie demonstrated so clearly, by her behaviour and her words, her need to express her intense and complex feelings at not being able to return to her birth mother and to grieve before she could begin to accept her new parents and progress along the process of attachment to them.<\/p>\n The author tried to address stereotypes about parties to an adoption and the comment about how \u201cnormal\u201d the birth mother appeared was much appreciated.<\/p>\n How about another \u00a0full length movie \u00a0following up on Lizzie\u2019s poignant demonstration of how important\u00a0 the birth family can be to an adoptee\u00a0 and\u00a0 how, although youth or \u00a0lifestyle issues and the challenges presented by illness or addiction can get in the way of a person\u2019s \u00a0parenting ability at some\u00a0 point in their life, they are human beings who\u00a0 can, and usually do, return to a healthier state and they continue to have a place in the family system created by adoption?<\/p>\n This is a significant contribution to the adoption community and a\u00a0 must see movie for anybody considering adopting an older child or sibling group and for those supporting them.<\/p>\n The movie \u201cInstant Family\u201d\u00a0 opened in theatres on November 16, 2018<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Review by Betty Ann Streeter,\u00a0MSW, RSW, ADV.DIP.SW of\u00a0Milestones & Transitions Informed by the author\/director\u2019s experience of being an adoptive parent and the experience of a young woman who had spent time in foster care in the US,\u00a0 the full length\u00a0 movie\u00a0\u201c Instant Family \u201c\u00a0rings true to life.\u00a0 As a description of the early stages of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":492,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n