
America ReFramed
Any Given Day
Cook County, Illinois is trying an alternative approach to cases in which defendants suffer from a mental illness: treatment.
With cases in the US child welfare system, two parents attempt to prove to the courts that they deserve a second chance at a family.
Stephanie Wang-Breal has been producing and directing commercials, television shows, and documentaries for the past 10 years. She directed the award-winning feature-length documentary, Wo Ai Ni Mommy (I Love You, Mommy). The film was nominated for an Emmy, and was the recipient of a 2011 CINE Special Jury Award, as well as three Grand Jury Best… Show more
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Offering a rare look at the inner workings of the American child welfare system, Tough Love chronicles the lives of two parents — one in Seattle and one in New York City — as each fights to be reunited with children taken out of their custody.
The United States leads the world in the number of children in state-sponsored foster care. In 2011, over 250,000 children were removed from their parents’ homes and placed in foster care. Almost 80% of these child victimization cases involved findings of neglect, not abuse. Neglect allegations frequently involve poverty, mental illness, addiction, domestic violence, children with significant developmental challenges, and/or some combination of these factors.
Through intimate, verité footage of both families, in Tough Love we witness first-hand the crushing bureaucracy of America’s child welfare system. Moreover, we come to understand the powerful role poverty and prejudice play in keeping parents and children apart — and the challenges parents must overcome in order to put their families back together.
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