Movie: "America"

[klmno]

Has anyone here seen this? It's about a kid named America who is in the foster care system and sent to an Residential Treatment Center (RTC). It shows various problemed kids, of course, and being of a foster care focus, they apparently all come from less than desirable homes, for one reason or another.

My concern/question here is that while I obviously see that coming from neglectful or abusive homes, or shifted around from one place to another causes kids to have problems, what can we do when our difficult child does NOT come from a home like that, yet people ITRW apparently assume that this MUST be the problem? That something must be going on at home that has caused this? If they aren't willing to take psychiatrist and therapist's word for face value, is there anything at all that we parents of kids with axis 1 diagnosis's can do or say to get people to address this any differently? And maybe my son isn't BiPolar (BP)- maybe somehow he ended up with issues that major anyway- but then, HOW?

And then, after watching this movie, it does make me rack my brain wondering (for the thousandth time) if it's at all possible that maybe something did happen to my son that I'm still not aware of. But I do not know of any opportunity that someone else could have had to do something drastic enough to him that would caused him this much problem. And I can't believe, knowing my son, that if something that bad had happened that he wouldn't tell me or somebody else.

 

[Nancy]

Yes I did see the movie and thought it was done very well. I don't know the answer to your question but I do agree with the statistic of how many kids from the foster care system end up in jail. I wish troubled kids could be reached as America was by Rosie. We could then clone Rosie and solve a lot of problems.

Nancy

 

[klmno]

I thought it was well done, too- and I was very impressed by Rosie in it. It really changed my view of her, even though I realize she was playing a part in a movie. I think most of us here realize that there are a whole lot of kids out there who live this as a reality- it's not as fictional as some movie watchers might think, unfortunately.

 

[Shari]

I'll have to check this movie out!

 

[klmno]

Shari, this was a free movie thru my cable company but it was listed as a Lifetime movie. You might be able to find it on tv- I don't even know if it's for rent on dvd.

 

[susiestar]

I haven't seen this but will have to search for it. Is it on lifetime right now?

Many lifetime movies are available for sale on dvd. Not so sure about for rent, but I have seen many of them at a local book and video store.

 

[WSM]

>>...wondering (for the thousandth time) if it's at all possible that maybe something did happen to my son that I'm still not aware of. But I do not know of any opportunity that someone else could have had to do something drastic enough to him that would caused him this much problem...<<

My own personal worthless opinion is that so much more of this is biological, chemical, genetic, structural than anyone yet realizes. It's just that the connection between behavior and biology is so subtle, unlike the very real times that behavior is caused by poor environment.

People don't see or don't know what to do about the biological causes, and it's easy to see the social causes, so they just assume it's all socially caused. But I think the biological origins of problem behavior and the environmental origins of problem behavior are two different and distinct things that are easy to confuse because the by-product is so similar.

 

[klmno]

Good morning!

WSM: No one's opinion is worthless here- and you had a very good point, I thought!

Susie: I don't really know if it's on Lifetime right now or not- I have an option with my cable company where I can watch movies "On Demand"- some are free (like this one) and some are not. I just happened to notice on this one that it said it was a Lifetime movie, so I guess it's been shown on there before.

PS- It appeared that Rosie played the role of therapist, not psychiatrist, to me. Not that it matters.

 

[jal]

I saw this movie on Lifetime when it premiered, which I believe was mid to the end of February. It was very well done and Rosie was great in it, it was just a such a sad story though. Sometimes there is no answer to why difficult child's are the way they are, I agree with what WSM put out there. Sometimes things are just what they are biologically and due to no fault of our own.

 

[aeroeng]

...wondering (for the thousandth time) if it's at all possible that maybe something did happen to my son that I'm still not aware of. But I do not know of any opportunity that someone else could have had to do something drastic enough to him that would caused him this much problem

I have an adult friend who grew up in the foster care system. Her feet are permanently disfigured, because she was forced to ware shoes that were too small for her. She often did not get enough to eat and at one point was put on a special medically supervised diet for kids that were mal-nourished. Yet, she is kind gentle and very emotionally stable. She survived her child hood without becoming a difficult child. At the same time there are so many kids on this site that come from strong loving home environments.

So I think that yes, the environment a child is put in to can have a profound influence on the child's development. But, not all kids from difficult environments grow up with problems and not all kids with problems had a traumatic experience or were poorly treated. My mom was told that all of my reading difficulties were a result of a "too lax of a home environment". To this day I appreciate her for not lessening to the professionals and continuing fighting for the training I needed. You have wondered for a thousand times, and not found anything. It most likely is not there. In stead wonder a thousand times for what you can do to make it better. Have confidence in yourself and the environment you provided for your child.

I loved Harry Chapin's music, but he was dead wrong when he pinned the U of TX sniper on the sniper's mother. Tests found a brain tumor the size of a base ball. Hopefully our kid's reasons are not that dramatic. It is easy to pin the blame on home environment when you don't know the answer. Don't fall into that trap.

 

[klmno]

Thank you, aeroeng!!

I agree, jal!