2003

June 20, 2004
HBO
USA
English
83 minutes

Documentary about a Bay Area woman named Susan Tom who adopted a dozen special needs kids. Some have no legs, one has a disease that makes him reject his own skin, one has horribly burned, etc. You quickly get past how she could possibly handle simply feeding these kids and move on to how she can keep them all safe. I didn't for a minute believe that she didn't care as much for these kids as for her biological ones. And you can quickly get past the physical malformations to see the person beneath. First crushes, dangerous sexual urges, confidence and crying are all over the place. Susan is pretty impressive.

Her grocery bill runs $600 a week. She actually loads the multiple Albertson's carts right into her van and drives them home with her after shopping. There are scenes of the collagen-deficient 18-year-old Anthony, being given a bath where you can just about feel the excruciating pain that he goes through in simply staying alive.

There is also humor. When you have a group of kids without limbs, your Halloween haunted house takes on a special significance. Several of the girls have an almost superhuman optimism.

A scene that hit close to home was when Joe, by far the most troubled of the kids, visits his birth mother, a recovering meth addict, all but begging for her to take him back.

There is some concern that Ms. Tom takes care of these kids because the state pays more for hard-to-place children than for "normal" foster kids. Indeed, she has no job--where would she find the time, really. And watching her dismiss a crying teenage girl who really needs to talk to her about her feelings after attending her first college counseling class, you begin to wonder how on earth she finds enough time to give the kids the nurturing that they need. There simply is not enough time in the day.

**** Curiel