Movie Review: Instant Family

Film Synopsis
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. Now, Pete and Ellie must try to learn the ropes of instant parenthood in the hope of becoming a family.

• In most ways, very true to reality. Several scenes provide legitimate training for the process of becoming a certified foster parent. The emotional rollercoaster of joys, challenges, and fears was well captured.
• It was very humorous to help balance out the difficult topic and situations presented.
• There was a positive portrayal of the children’s biological family.
• Foster families will definitely have more than two caseworkers for the duration of the case!
• Perhaps it was because it was so true  to life, I found it hard to watch. Many of the worst stereotypes and darkest foster parent thoughts are verbalized, which caused me to cringe. Although it’s helpful to normalize the experience, the cruel words could be very hurtful to kids from hard places who watch the film.
• A significant amount of profanity. More than a few swear words, including, but not limited to the “f” word. There were also scenes regarding the teen daughter sexting with an adult. This was unfortunate to me because it does limit the audience and the ability for it to be utilized in a training setting.

Final thoughts
This film is not recommended for young children or children who have been a part of the foster care system. If an older foster/adoptive youth would like to see “Instant Parents”, I suggest watching it with them and following the film with a discussion about your personal attachment to the child. It may be triggering to their situation as well as verbalizing fears that they may have about self-worth and abandonment.

​I’m thankful that “Instant Parents” is receiving attention and I hope that it does draw in people to consider becoming foster parents or providing more support to foster families in their community. The intention of the film was to be a blessing to the foster/adoption community as well as to hopefully recruit more families for kids!

-Megan Magel