On Wednesday, November 19th, my Social Justice group and I attended three field works, our last one of the day was attending the premiere of Tough Love, a documentary airing at AFC theater, just down the street from school. We had read about the premiere online, and were excited to see the film and gain insight into true stories about parents who were guilty of neglect. The film was centered around two real parents, one living in New York City and the other one living in Seattle, who had previously neglected their young children. They were then trying to fight the law and gain back full custody of their children. The man from Seattle was a single dad and former drug addict, who had gotten his daughter taken away from him and put into a foster home. In the film, he had become clean, but was having difficulties with gambling which held him back from getting his daughter back. Luckily, he was in touch with his daughter’s foster parents and was allowed to visit her once in a while. The woman living in New York City was a former teen mom, and had neglected her children when she was still a teenager, because she did not know how to properly raise them. In the film, her children were living with their grandmother, although she was allowed to have them for a couple nights a week. Although the two parents had different situations, they were both tirelessly fighting against the law in order to get their children back.
From watching the film, I have learned a great amount about the toll that abusive or neglective parents have to pay. It is extremely difficult for one to gain back custody of their children after they have put them at risk through abuse or neglect. This is because it is difficult for a person, such as a judge who is ruling in a case about abuse, to establish trust in a parent who was previously unstable. I also gained insight into why abuse commonly arises. Many abusive parents have trouble with alcohol or drug abuse, are too young to be a stable parent, have a mental issue, or are just uninterested in caring or unaware of how to care for a child. I have also gained more confidence in the ability that people have to change. As terrible as it is for a parent to abuse or neglect their child, everyone has the power to change themselves and become a more stable and caring person, and it is important for other people to be aware of that and refrain from making immediate judgements. At the same time, I understand how cautious a judge or another person in power must be when making a decision whether or not to allow a parent custody over their children.
