She left her baby in the trash to go get high,
she went to prison
how can anyone says she's a suitable parent?
Doesn't matter if she's changed now, she shouldn't have screwed up the first time.
If you're a bird, I'm a bird.
I agree with you 100%. Any parental rights she ever had, she forfeited when she ditched him so she could get doped up.
~
"An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind."
-Mahatma Gandhi
question: what is the racial roles were reversed? What if Jessica Lange played the junkie and Halle Berry played the upper middle-class mother, would your prection change?
What really bothered me about the film was the stereotypical placement of minoirties in this film: how the "bad" mother was *coincidently* African-American, how the "bad" mother *coincidently* lived in the projects, that the "bad" mother was *coincidently* formerly on crack, that her only defense was " I'm off it now."
What really disappoined me was the film's indirect way of saying a child is better raised by white parents than African-American parents.
I think the film had a very direct way of saying any child is better off being raised by caring parents who are able to look beyond color and the disadvantage of being a crack-baby than by a woman who leaves her baby in a dumpster to get high and then years later somehow succeeds in tearing him away from the only home he's ever known.
Christians threatened by Harry Potter have faith as weak as their minds.
I agree 100%, crazybrain123. Well said.
I could not believe the judge ruled in favor of the natural mother. She threw him in a trash bin to go get drugs!! She didn't care what happened to him then. Just because she decided to get help LATER and decided she cared about him again, doesn't means she deserves to get him back.
Motherhood is more than just giving birth.
"I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus."
"Didn't he discover America?"
"Penfold, shush."
What really bothered me about the film was the stereotypical placement of minoirties in this film: how the "bad" mother was *coincidently* African-American, how the "bad" mother *coincidently* lived in the projects, that the "bad" mother was *coincidently* formerly on crack, that her only defense was " I'm off it now."
Not to sound negative, but stereotypes are stereotypes because they have some truth in them. Most children in foster care are black, most social workers and adoptive parents are white. Most people who live in the projects are black. Crack addiction was also very dominated by the black community when this movie was made. All in all it's a very realistic movie. It's not because black women are bad mothers or anyone wants to portray them as such. The film was not saying that children are better off being raised by white families, and the fact you say that proves you totally missed the point.
Not only that, but Halle Berry's character didn't just say "I'm off it". She gained sobriety, educated herself better, attained a job and a permanent residence, and even proved she was successful at looking after children. For someone once addicted to crack that is ENORMOUS. In fact, if Isaiah had only been a foster child I would agree he deserved to go back to her. But the fact was he was not only adopted, but had strong relationships with his adoptive family and taking him away was very damaging. Not only that but it's implied that he has some special needs, and that family would be able to get good care for those needs, while she probably could not. Truly, she definitely deserved rights to him even if it wasn't full custody.
If it was a white baby with a black family I would feel the same way. If anything this movie sheds light on how much trouble race relations can cause in child welfare cases. Black babies belong with good mothers, just as white babies belong with good mothers. Race has absolutely nothing to do with the ability to raise a child, and putting it in the mix only makes children of all races suffer.
It wouldn't really be a gopd case to argue that a white baby can't live with a good black family because of their race as it is for a black baby who shouldn't live with a white family because of their race. The first situation would just come off as racist becauze it'll come off as a black family isn't good enough to raise a white baby. Which really makes you think because it should be the same for this situation but it isn't... Anyways, they did it for the sake of the plot, that's why race played such a big role.
shareCustody was handed back to the natural mother on the grounds that Isaiah knew nothing of his heritage, by having never been read anything along the lines of a Virginia Hamilton story or so much as being taken to a museum exhibit about slavery, and that he would more than likely suffer an identity crisis and produce a complex as a result. Lange's character admitted she would get around to those things evetually, but for the time Isaiah was only two, an age too young to discuss such matters. Considering all the other black mothers in the world, most wait until their children are at least six before telling them about slavery and such things. So, yeah, I don't think it was right for Isaiah to be returned to his natural mother, also taking into consideration that his natural father (a drug dealer his mother had a one-night stand with for a free hit whose name she never learned) wouldn't be there, since he was used to a neutral family unit that included a father and sibling. It didn't help either that Isaiah's natural mother lived in an all-black community where not a single white could be seen, making it almost as "bad" as when he lived in an almost-all-white community.
shareIm not perfect on the law or anything, but the fact is Halle's character never gave up any rights to the baby.... the fact is parents do bad things all the time, forget children...etc.... Granted Halle's character was on drugs she cleaned herself up.... Halle never meant to throw the baby in the trash and regardless in her case social services would have come and possibly taken the child away, but IF she cleaned herself up Halle WOULD have had rights to get the baby back regardless. Which is what happened..... but Thats just how i see the law working.... so I can see how the judge ruled in her favor....
shareThat's what I wanted to being up, because while the state is allowed to put children in foster care because of their parents. They aren't allow to give them up for adoption without the mother and father (<in most cases). I think the point of this film and most of lifetimes film that there is no for lack of better word black and white. There's always a gray area.
26 // Navy Vet
That's what I wanted to being up, because while the state is allowed to put children in foster care because of their parents. They aren't allow to give them up for adoption without the mother and father (<in most cases).
This crap happens all the time. When I was younger, my aunt had a foster child from the time that she was 1 up until she was 15. When she tried to adopt her, the court chose to send this girl back to live with her crackhead mother and her brother who had molested her. It devastated our family and when we got in touch with her some time later, she was a shell of a person. It's unfair but social services has a goal of getting the kids back with their bio parents regardless of the circumstances sometimes.
shareVery true, Tracy, and a big part of the reason people in the United States don't want to adopt children in this country. It's too terrible to think of your child being taken away by the genetic material donor years later because they've "cleaned up their act" and decide they want to be a parent again.
http://thinkingoutloud-descartes.blogspot.com/
Agreed. I'll never understand why social service agencies tend to think that parenthood is a right. Its not. You don't have a right to get your children back if you abuse or neglect them. Everyone can make mistakes yes, but some mistakes are worse than others.
What makes a biological parent so great anyway?? A parent is who truly loves you forever, who is there for you always. Blood is just that, its only biology.
Love is love.
"I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus."
"Didn't he discover America?"
"Penfold, shush."
I could not believe that she was given custody without having him slowly get use to her.
Personally I don't think she should have been able to take him, from his family that he has known all of his life.. considering the way she left him !! All parental rights should have been voided !!!!
The ending where he runs to his real Mother crying out.. "MOMMY".. shows just how wrong the Judge was to hand him over to a stranger !!
They do all the time. Child services are always trying to place the children back with their birth parents. I've seen it so many times where terrible parents get their children back. My mom and aunt worked for social services. I knew of a case like this. Except it was a biracial black child (who looked more white) who was living with black parents. The mother was a white female and a drug addict. However, the court ruled in her favor and the child was returned. The child ended up being placed back in foster care 8 months later. It was a really sad situation.
shareThe judge was a dumb *beep*
shareWhen you bring race into a case between a black person and a white person, that's the best and easiest defense except in 2015
share