Best Movies about Adoption and Foster Care

Best Movies About Adoption to Watch

Becoming a foster or adoptive parent is one of the most rewarding things a person can do.  There are a lot of children in foster care in need of loving homes.  However, it's essential to learn as much as possible about foster care and adoption in preparation.

Watching a movie about adoption can be a stress-free, relaxing, and efficient way to learn more about the topic.  Whether you're preparing yourself, your partner, or your children, there are plenty of movies that address adoption.

If you're looking for the perfect movie about adoption, check out these great suggestions.

1.  Instant Family

This heartwarming movie is about a couple who decide to adopt a child and end up adopting three siblings.  It is a comedy-drama that stars Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne.  This is an excellent movie for a family looking to adopt a teenager or a set of siblings in foster care.

In Instant Family, the oldest sibling is a teenager, and she is very cynical of her new adoptive parents. The foster teen does everything she can to push them away.

This movie acknowledges that adoption can be challenging, but it puts a comedic twist on it. Get the tissues ready, because the ending is a tear-jerker with a happy adoption.

2.  Martian Child

Martian Child is a movie about an adoptive father and his new adoptive son, who believes he is from Mars.  Because of this, most of his behavior is perceived as odd, and he feels he doesn't fit in.  It stars John Cusack as the father and is a comedy-drama film perfect for the family.

This is the perfect movie to watch if you are looking to be a single foster or adoptive parent.

This feature film perfectly depicts the role of a foster parent in helping a child overcome an identity crisis while still accepting who they are.

3.  Anne of Green Gables

Movies about foster children are hard to come by, but what better way to prepare yourself than with a film based on a classic children's novel?

The story of Anne of Green Gables is set in the early 1900s in Nova Scotia, Canada.  It follows an 11-year-old girl who lives as a servant but is soon taken to an orphanage.  From there, she is adopted by a family, and we follow her struggles and adventures through life.

If you're looking for a classic movie about an unconventional and spirited orphan, this is the movie for you.

4.  The Blind Side

The Blind Side is a sports drama starring Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw as the adoptive parents.  The film is about a young man in high school named Michael, who is adopted by a family because his birth mother isn't able to support him.

The mother of the family, played by Sandra Bullock, is concerned about Michael when she sees him walking alone on the streets.  She takes him in and offers him a place to stay as a temporary solution to his problems.  However, he soon becomes a much-loved member of the family.

This film doesn't depict the idea of an instant family, which rarely happens in the real world of fostering and adoption.  Instead, it shows the developing relationship between the adopted child and the other members of the family.

5.  Annie

Annie is a well-known story that has been adapted into three films, a Broadway musical, a comic strip, and a radio show.  It's regarded as one of the best stories about a foster girl's struggles.

Annie is a young girl living in an orphanage in New York during the Great Depression.  She is mistreated terribly in the orphanage and longs for her birth parents to come and find her.  Eventually, she is fostered by a billionaire gentleman to improve his image.  She is then kidnapped and held for ransom.  When she is safely returned, her foster father officially adopts her.

This is a classic must-watch movie about adoption for anyone looking to enter the rewarding world of foster care and adoption.