source: Troubled Child

Some of the <5 reviews are unfair. I think the intent of this movie is to give a realistic look into a case scenario adopting a child diagnosed with RAD. The movie succeeds in that regard by showing the charm, anger, behavior, triangulation, and stress that a family may go through.

The acting isn't great. The picture isn't great. But the story is. The story is also very accurate until the end. As someone who is a parent to a child with Reactive Attachment Disorder, this is very realistic. These children can be extremely troubled and this accurately portrays that. They also primarily target their adopted/foster/step mother figure. They will seem overly charming and sweet to everyone else. They will attack animals or other children. I've experienced this first-hand. The biggest issue with this story is the ending. In reality, most of us with RAD kids never get the help we need. Our children either end up hospitalized permanently or end up in the jail system at some point. Most of us just try to survive them until they are 18 and legally on their own. That's the sad reality of the mental health and foster care systems.

Would certainly have been rated **** if not for the saccharine ending. Sorry, but a child that emotionally distraught does not become well after a confrontation with his adopted mother. The child, who had been terribly abused by his mother's boyfriend and foster parents alike is adopted by an inter-racial loving couple; the father, a minister and the Caucasian wife, a fine example of what motherhood is supposed to be about. The child does relate to his black minister father but takes an immediate disdain towards the mother. His acting out invariably causes a rift in this loving couple's marriage as the father, caught up with his religious duties, fails to see the gravity of the situation. Mayhem results, but the picture, a good one, has an ending which though happy, is not satisfying because you know that things can't end up the way they do here so quickly.

But OMG I didn't make it past the first 15 minutes. The acting is worse than anything I've ever seen, the glorified color (literally, the visual appearance of the obvious digital enhancement) making the scenes sickeningly sweet is unbearable. I thought the topic might be good but wasn't able to even get there.

I only caught the last 30 minutes of this film, but I was so intrigued. Don't know why it got such a bad review above as being a "below average" film, but that's totally wrong. I will look for it so I can see the entire film. I've worked with abused children and I think this may be an important film. Just because it is not about perfect people and perfect situations we won't like it? Enough is said in this world these days about the rich, famous and beautiful. (Though Dee Wallace is still very beautiful.) We need to have more films of behind-the-scenes about real people-people who matter.

Be glad you didn't hire the add on wannabe actors. I would like to add names but they don't need the recognition and I am glad I didn't try and act as a fill in. I would be ashamed to add my name to the list with the not really a Nebraskan ( washed up ) so called fame trouble makers.

Terrible script. Terrible acting. Ridiculous, unbelievably-perfect, host family. The story could have made a good movie, if it were made by a completely different cast/crew. Don't be fooled by anyone rating this anything above a 3 max.

This movie is based on an important disorder - Reactive Attachment Disorder. RAD arises from a child's failure to form normal attachments to primary caregivers (their mother) in their first few years of life and can result from severe early experiences of neglect, abuse, abrupt separation from caregivers, frequent change of caregivers, or a lack of caregiver responsiveness. Children with attachment disorders have difficulty connecting to others and managing their own emotions. This results in a lack of trust and self-worth, a fear of getting close to anyone, anger, and a need to be in control. A child with an attachment disorder feels unsafe and alone. They often struggle with physical contact and can act out in manipulative and violent behavior. This movie is based on true events about an adopted child with a disturbing, but authentic, personality disorder found in severely neglected and/or abused children, (often foster children.) The movie has some good information, but it is delivered through poor acting and disjointed storytelling. The movie wasn't able to spend enough time setting up the characters and storyline, and the acting was so bad it was hard to feel any empathy for any of the characters which made the film depressing and hard to watch. I honestly don't know if I can recommend this movie because I'm sure there are better films or even better books that can portray this condition in a better light. And although the subject matter is interesting, on its own as a movie, it just was not that entertaining, in my humble opinion... so an average rating for a below average film from me. [2015]

I'd give it an 8 for it's accurate portrayal of the mom's experience. I'll call her "Bad Parent", as in the Good Cop, Bad Cop scenario. I was the "Bad Parent" in our own personal story. Fortunately we did not have to deal with animal killing or torture, but there were an awful lot of fights at school, lying, theft and drugs toward the end. There were also incompetent/uninformed therapists, which speaks to RAD not being very well studied or assessed. However, for portraying such an easy "cure" - (a big hard hug) for RAD, I'd give it a 2. There is no fix or cure, only learning to cope and survive until the child is out of the house. A child with RAD will likely grow up to be either a psychopath or a sociopath. The checklists of signs and symptoms for RAD, psychopathy and sociopathy are remarkably alike. I hate painting such a dismal picture of foster parenting disturbed children, because bouncing around the system does not help them, but it was wrong of the Social Worker to hide Carl's medical history from Mom the first time around. Sometimes, as Dee Wallace's character said, "Love is not enough". For those of you who have lived this experience and weren't fostering for money; (folks fostering for money DO exist), it may be easy to see your own situation. Find a support group like Carl's family did and be willing to admit that this may be bigger than you can "fix". Also, good luck recovering from the experience. It's been 10 years since J. left the house, but there are still many feelings surrounding the entire experience.