"I Am Somebody's Child" is a gripping story of an orphan and ward of the state, who bonds with a kind social worker at the state facility in Virginia where the child is warehoused. The special relationship of the two characters was beautifully developed and was based on a true story.
Regina Louise was a young black girl abandoned by her family in 1966, shuttled around to dozens of foster homes. But the most disturbing part of her story was the shocking way she was treated in state-run shelters well into the 1970s.
Between the ages of five and thirteen, Regina Louise made a friend named Jeanne Kerr, who served as one of her caretakers for the children at the state institution. Eventually, Miss Kerr petitioned to adopt Regina Louise as her daughter. The devastating denial of the petition by the judge was based on the recommendation of the head of the shelter to continue to warehouse the teenager in a juvenile detention center in California.
Instead of attending high school and living in a good home with Miss Kerr, Regina Louise was placed under the care of a nearly diabolical psychiatrist and nursing staff that led the child to make an attempt on her life. One of the most heartbreaking moments of the film is when Regina Louise finally receives the bundle of letters written to her by Miss Kerr, which were hidden away from her during her stay at the facility.
Through her own tenacity, Regina Louise rallied and finally was released from the institution, graduated from college, and eventually wrote the book that was the catalyst for her reunion with Miss Kerr.
In the Richmond detention center, young Regina Louise had been encouraged to earn a "gold star" for good behavior. By dint of her resiliency and through the love given to her by Miss Kerr, both of these women merit gold stars. The desire that burned inside Regina Louise was "to be somebody's someone." The film dramatizes the shining moment when in 2003 and in the same Contra Costa County courthouse where her petition was denied twenty-three years earlier, Jeanne Kerr became the mother of Regina Louise. At that moment, both characters were officially "somebody's someone."
Regina Louise was a young black girl abandoned by her family in 1966, shuttled around to dozens of foster homes. But the most disturbing part of her story was the shocking way she was treated in state-run shelters well into the 1970s.
Between the ages of five and thirteen, Regina Louise made a friend named Jeanne Kerr, who served as one of her caretakers for the children at the state institution. Eventually, Miss Kerr petitioned to adopt Regina Louise as her daughter. The devastating denial of the petition by the judge was based on the recommendation of the head of the shelter to continue to warehouse the teenager in a juvenile detention center in California.
Instead of attending high school and living in a good home with Miss Kerr, Regina Louise was placed under the care of a nearly diabolical psychiatrist and nursing staff that led the child to make an attempt on her life. One of the most heartbreaking moments of the film is when Regina Louise finally receives the bundle of letters written to her by Miss Kerr, which were hidden away from her during her stay at the facility.
Through her own tenacity, Regina Louise rallied and finally was released from the institution, graduated from college, and eventually wrote the book that was the catalyst for her reunion with Miss Kerr.
In the Richmond detention center, young Regina Louise had been encouraged to earn a "gold star" for good behavior. By dint of her resiliency and through the love given to her by Miss Kerr, both of these women merit gold stars. The desire that burned inside Regina Louise was "to be somebody's someone." The film dramatizes the shining moment when in 2003 and in the same Contra Costa County courthouse where her petition was denied twenty-three years earlier, Jeanne Kerr became the mother of Regina Louise. At that moment, both characters were officially "somebody's someone."