Best movies like In the Best Interest of the Children
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Fact-based story of a legal battle fought over custody of five siblings.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 483
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: sad, crying
Best tv shows and movies like In the Best Interest of the Children (1992):
Similar in 89%
The Beniker Gang (1984)
Plot Summary:
When his younger friends go up for adoption, threatening their extended family, an orphaned teen helps them discourage potential parents.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 408
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: independent film, uplifting, touching, realistic, semi serious, crying
Similar in 85%
The Children Nobody Wanted (1981)
Plot Summary:
True story of Tom Butterfield and his crusade to provide family life for homeless children, becoming not only the first bachelor caretaker, but the youngest single adult to become a legal foster parent in the state of Missouri.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 258
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: political
Similar in 85%
An Unexpected Life (1998)
Plot Summary:
Sequel to "An Unexpected Family.".
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 207
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 84%
A Child's Cry for Help (1994)
Plot Summary:
A recently widowed doctor moves with her daughter to start at a new hospital. While there a loving mother brings her son in for treatment. The doctor suspects that there is something wrong, and theorizes that the mother is deliberately making her son sick so that she could bring him to the hospital for the attention that it gives her. When the doctor decides to restrict the mother's access to her son and is reporting her to child services, the mother in turn decides to sue the doctor and the hospital. And some of the hospital board don't agree with her diagnosis or think that she's over-reacting. And even while the mother's not allowed access to her son, he is still sick, so is the doctor right or wrong?.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 266
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 88%
Yes Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus (1991)
Plot Summary:
While newspaper writer Church struggles with the death of his wife, he receives a "special" assignment. He must answer a little girl's question about whether Santa Claus really exists.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 946
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 90%
Custody (2016)
Plot Summary:
When a hard-working single mother, Sara Diaz, has her children taken from her after she is suspected of injuring her son, Ally Fisher, a recent law school graduate, is assigned to represent her case before Judge Martha Schulman, a veteran of the Family Court System.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: suspense, psychological, captivating, disturbing, dark
Similar in 76%
Who Will Love My Children? (1983)
Plot Summary:
Based on a true story of Iowa farm wife Lucile Fray. Ann-Margret plays a dying mother of ten whose last wish is to find loving families for her children.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 629
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: depressing
Similar in 83%
Untamed Love (1994)
Plot Summary:
A badly abused girl of 6 is saved from having to be admitted to an institution by a dedicated Special Education teacher whose class she's been placed in until there is an opening in the hospital. In that time they form a strong bond and the child begins to heal. The teacher begins to think an institution is not what this child needs.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 258
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: tear jerker, tearjerker
Similar in 90%
Pictures of Hollis Woods (2007)
Plot Summary:
After running away from her last foster placement with the Regan family, twelve year old Hollis Woods is placed with a new foster mother, the loving, retired art teacher, Josie Cahill.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing, sad
Similar in 77%
Treeless Mountain (2008)
Plot Summary:
In Seoul, Korea, two sisters must look after each other when their mother leaves them to search for their estranged father.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, South Korea
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, sentimental, serious, realistic, depressing, stylized, contemplative, crying
Similar in 76%
Judgment (1990)
Plot Summary:
Fact-based story of a Louisiana priest accused of molesting young parishioners, and of the family of one of his victims, caught between their loyalty to their son and to their Church.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 417
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: crying
Similar in 89%
Children of Love (2002)
Plot Summary:
Shows us a weekend in the life of a family torn by disputes and disappointments.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 141
Genere: Drama
Country: Belgium
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic, sexual, crying, sexy, cinema verite, fake documentary
Similar in 89%
Moment of Truth: A Child Too Many (1993)
Plot Summary:
Patty Nowakowski already has three children, but decides to be a surrogate mother. Fully confident of being able to give up her baby, she is nonetheless stunned when she discovers that she is expecting twins, and the couple for whom she is pregnant will only accept one child, provided it is female.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 169
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 82%
What Makes a Family (2001)
Plot Summary:
Brooke Shields believes she has finally found happiness, now that she and her lesbian partner (Cherry Jones) have a child. But when Jones passes away five years later and her scheming parents apply for custody behind Shields' back, an affecting struggle ensues. Written by.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 795
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, touching, uplifting, sexual, sexy, queer cinema
Similar in 78%
Liar, Liar: Between Father and Daughter (1993)
Plot Summary:
An 11 year old girl accuses her father of incest.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 465
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: historical drama, crying, independent film
Similar in 82%
Go Toward the Light (1988)
Plot Summary:
A young couple faces the realities of life with their child who is diagnosed with AIDS.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 572
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 86%
Earth Mama (2023)
Plot Summary:
With two children in foster care, Gia, a pregnant single mother pitted against the system, fights to reclaim her family. In her close-knit Bay Area community, she works to make a life for herself and her kids.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 408
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: crying, independent film
Similar in 78%
Gimme Shelter (2013)
Plot Summary:
After running away from her abusive mother, a streetwise teen seeks refuge with her father, but he rejects her when he learns that she's pregnant.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: emotional, psychological, rough, serious, sad, cult classic, teen, tear jerker, bleak, realistic
Similar in 83%
A Place for Annie (1994)
Plot Summary:
Baby Annie is HIV positive and has been left in the clinic by her drug addicted mother. To prevent that she's deported to a home where they'd just wait for her to die, nurse Susan takes charge of Annie at her home. Two years later she plans too adopt her -- but suddenly Annie's mother reappears and demands her back. And under the law, Susan, as foster-mother, has no claim to the child.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 602
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 89%
A Father for Brittany (1998)
Plot Summary:
Keith and Kim Lussier are a childless couple who are given custody of a 3-month-old foster child, Brittany. However, tragedy strikes when Kim dies of cancer in the middle of the adoption process, leaving Keith to fight for Brittany's custody alone.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 265
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 81%
Gracie's Choice (2004)
Plot Summary:
For as long as she can remember, 16 year-old Gracie has been raising her four siblings, each of whom has a different, absent father and their mother is on the fast track to self-destruction. When these children's lives are about to be pulled apart, Gracie will have to do the impossible and make the ultimate sacrifices to keep her family together.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, emotional, touching, serious, realistic
Similar in 82%
Evelyn (2002)
Plot Summary:
Desmond Doyle is devastated when his wife abandons their family on the day after Christmas. His unemployment and the fact that there is no woman in the house to care for the children, Evelyn, Dermot and Maurice, make it clear to the authorities that his is an untenable situation. The Catholic Church and the Irish courts decide to put the Doyle children into Church-run orphanages.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, Germany, Ireland, UK, Netherlands
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: sentimental, emotional, touching, sincere, feel good, intense, social, uplifting, bleak, serious
Similar in 89%
Losing Isaiah (1995)
Plot Summary:
Khaila Richards, a crack-addicted single mother, accidentally leaves her baby in a dumpster while high and returns the next day in a panic to find he is missing. In reality, the baby has been adopted by a warm-hearted social worker, Margaret Lewin, and her husband, Charles. Years later, Khaila has gone through rehab and holds a steady job. After learning that her child is still alive, she challenges Margaret for the custody.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: heartbreaking, touching, emotional, melancholic, serious, thought provoking, sexy, sad, hood, cult classic
Similar in 77%
Fifteen and Pregnant (1998)
Plot Summary:
Based on a true story, 15 year old Tina Spangler discovers she is pregnant. Her choices are abortion, adoption, or a lonely, exhausting life as a single parent. Abandoned by her boyfriend, she turns to her mother. Tina discovers although it has torn her world apart, her pregnancy could re-unite her shattered family and help her find her true purpose in life.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic, psychological, sincere, talky, ridiculous
Similar in 88%
Precious (2009)
Plot Summary:
Set in Harlem in 1987, Claireece "Precious" Jones is a 16-year-old African American girl born into a life no one would want. She's pregnant for the second time by her absent father; at home, she must wait hand and foot on her mother, an angry woman who abuses her emotionally and physically. School is chaotic and Precious has reached the ninth grade with good marks and a secret--she can't read.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 115000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: bleak, depressing, emotional, rough, sad, inspirational, disturbing, touching, independent film, harsh
Similar in 77%
Short Term 12 (2013)
Plot Summary:
Grace, a compassionate young supervisor at a foster care facility, works with her boyfriend and colleague, Mason, to help at-risk teens. But when a new charge dredges up memories of her own troubled past, Grace's tough exterior begins eroding.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 91000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: compassionate, emotional, sad, touching, realistic, independent film, depressing, sweet, thought provoking, spiritual
Similar in 90%
Gifted (2017)
Plot Summary:
Frank, a single man raising his child prodigy niece Mary, is drawn into a custody battle with his mother.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 127000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: touching, inspirational, emotional, sweet, light, entertaining, scenic, sad, motivational, offbeat
Similar in 87%
White Oleander (2002)
Plot Summary:
A teenager journeys through a series of foster homes after her mother goes to prison for committing a crime of passion.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 34000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: emotional, intense, touching, disturbing, serious, realistic, erotic, sentimental, gothic, social
Similar in 84%
I Am Sam (2001)
Plot Summary:
Sam has the mental capacity of a 7-year-old. He has a daughter with a homeless woman who abandons them when they leave the hospital, leaving Sam to raise Lucy on his own. But as Lucy grows up, Sam's limitations start to become a problem and the authorities take her away. Sam shames high-priced lawyer Rita into taking his case pro bono and in turn teaches her the value of love and family.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 154000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags: inspirational, emotional, touching, tear jerker, sad, sentimental, sincere, serious, heartbreaking, sweet
Similar in 78%
Instant Family (2018)
Plot Summary:
When Pete and Ellie decide to start a family, they stumble into the world of foster care adoption. They hope to take in one small child but when they meet three siblings, including a rebellious 15 year old girl, they find themselves speeding from zero to three kids overnight.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 117000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: feel good, sweet, funny, sincere, light, inspirational, sad, humorous, emotional, touching