'Losing Isaiah' is a film that is very relevant in today's climate where care homes are over-flowing with children because of the lack of foster parents yet still social services still allow place race as a deciding factor in the fostering process.
Based on the novel by Seth J. Margolis, the film sees baby Isaiah being abandoned by his drug addict black mother Khaila Richards in a bin shortly after his birth. He is found and taken to hospital where Margaret Lewin, a white doctor caring for him, decides to adopts him as her own child. Isaiah fits well into the Lewin family despite hailing from a different racial background and he grows into a happy, cherished little boy. But four years later, Khaila is back on the scene demanding custody of her son back now that she is clean. And it seems the Lewins' have a fight on their hands to keep the child since the family court system not only favours children being returned to their parents but also the idea of people only being allowed to foster/adopt children of the same racial background as themselves.
The quality of acting was excellent from all members of the cast. Jessica Lange gave a great depiction as Margaret Lewin, the mother who doted on Isaiah with as much love as if she had given birth to him herself. Although, on the surface, it was quite hard to like Khaila Richards, Halle Berry gave the role substance and managed to make her an almost sympathetic character as the film went on. However, the real praise has to be reserved for the tiny Marc John Jefferies, who played Isaiah. Anyone who has ever said small children can't act or tried to excuse mediocre child acting on the basis of the child's age needs to see this boy's first-class performance despite the fact he must barely have been out of nappies when he appeared in this film.
Reading other people's reviews, it's clear some people don't realise that social services will push to place a child back with their biological family even in a situation like this. No, I don't think it's right as there are many cases where the best place to ensure a child's well-being and happiness is to be far, far away from their parents but, sadly, that doesn't often happen. And race does still play a role in where a child up for fostering/adoption is placed. So, for me, I found this film quite realistic in that respect and could completely empathise with the Lewin family's sense of helpless and disbelief as they risked losing their son to a mother who dumped him purely on the basis of they had the wrong skin colour and DNA. 'Losing Isaiah' certainly shows that a child's sense of security and love must always come first, regardless of what the biological mother wants or whether his skin tone matches his adoptive parents.
The ending, unfortunately, was rather a cop-out. It delivered a typical Hollywood 'happily ever after' with political correctness probably at the forefront of the scriptwriter's mind bu, in terms of reality, with both mothers' agreed to share custody with the child remaining at his adoptive parents' home but going to a nursery school of Khaila's choice with her accompanying him, viewers were left annoyed the issues raised in the film were not properly addressed. Perhaps a better resolution would have been to see Khaila forced to give up custody (or agreeing to let him go for the sake of her son's happiness since she seemed to see more sense than the so-called judges, lawyers and social workers) then re-entering Isaiah's life when he was older.
