Myah Overstreet’s film follows two women trying to regain custody of their children and explores the injustice of family separation.
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🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00I got blue, your favorite color, y'all's favorite color.
00:24Put it in y'all's room.
00:29Okay. Okay.
00:34Y'all want to see other toys. What other toys do you guys want to see?
00:43Scary one. That's a scary one.
00:47I heard your tummy hurt today in school.
00:54Yeah.
00:57Yes. Look, I got a book for y'all.
01:01It says, Going to the Firehouse. Can you see it?
01:05You see it? Tell Prince to come to the phone, Zion.
01:08Well, I think he's right there, but move a little bit closer.
01:12Look. Look at the firehouse.
01:14It says, Today my class is going to the firehouse.
01:19Look, it says, I dress like a fireman. Time to fight a fire.
01:25You see it? Look at the phone, baby.
01:30Okay. And that will happen soon, baby.
01:32But right now, I want you to be good. Do you understand?
01:35I understand you want to come home. I understand.
01:38And Mommy loves y'all. But Mommy still wants you to be good.
01:41You understand? You understand?
01:45You heard me? You heard me, baby?
01:51You said why you have to go to different houses?
01:53Look at me. I know it's tough. I know it's tough.
02:00But y'all are coming home soon, okay?
02:02What do you want to be, Prince? You want to be an astronaut?
02:05You want to be an astronaut too?
02:12All right. Mommy got to get ready to go, okay?
02:16I got to get ready to go, okay? Mommy love y'all, okay?
02:23You don't have to do anything but rest.
02:26You don't have to do anything but inhale through your nose
02:30and out through your mouth.
02:35Allow yourself to go to a place that brings you joy,
02:40peace, abundance, prosperity, happiness.
02:48Where are you? Who is there?
02:53What does it feel like? What does it smell like?
02:59Does it have a taste? A sound?
03:08Create the perfect dream, the perfect reality,
03:13the perfect moment of peace.
03:23You love Mommy? I love you too. Give me a kiss.
03:26Give me a kiss. Give me a kiss. Say cheese.
03:35We're going to take about another minute or so.
03:38These journals are yours to have, to keep, and to hold.
03:43But the more that you practice, the more you choose it,
03:47the more you move forward, the more you heal,
03:50the more you begin to realize that you really are
03:53fully in control and that you always have been
03:57and that you are the winner.
04:05Dear Alexis,
04:09I know right now you are feeling overwhelmed
04:12because you've been fighting the corrupt and broken system of CPS
04:16for your babies for three long, hard years.
04:19These three years of dealing with CPS has been extremely difficult,
04:23having your babies ripped away from you,
04:26when God has blessed you with these beautiful gifts, your babies.
04:32This morning, amen.
04:34Amen!
04:39I still have to go to work.
04:42I still have to still provide for my children,
04:46even though they're not with me. I pay child support.
04:49So I still have to be there mentally for my children.
04:53I have to go to my visitations
04:55and watch my children suffer before my eyes.
04:59And when it's time to leave, what rips my heart the most
05:05is the fact that when my children cry and beg to come home
05:08and follow after me, I just want to pick them up
05:11and just take them with me.
05:14But I know I can't right now.
05:18It's a lot of things that I wish I could go back and change.
05:24They took my daughter, and then I had my son in 2020,
05:31and then they also took my daughter.
05:34I don't know what I'm going to do with her.
05:37I don't know what I'm going to do with her.
05:40I don't know what I'm going to do with her.
05:43I had my son in 2020, and then they also took him.
05:48I've been fighting to get them back for almost four years now.
05:54I had a case open with Tykel.
05:56They closed the case because he's well taken care of.
06:00And now they're trying to terminate my rights
06:03and place my oldest two children up for adoption.
06:06Their reasons on doing that is because the case been open for so long.
06:11I've done everything that they asked me to do,
06:13and they still won't give me my kids back.
06:17Well, we are certainly in agreement with the children coming home, you know,
06:24especially you have done what they have asked you to do.
06:28And so now they need to do what's right and give them back to you.
06:35Father, we bring your daughter to you.
06:37Carely, right now, in the name of Jesus Christ,
06:40we ask you, Father, for mercy right now.
06:42Father, I ask you, you touch every official, every judge, every lawyer,
06:48everybody, God, that is involved in this case.
06:51We plead the blood over her right now, Father.
06:54And, Father, I ask you, Lord, that you lift up her countenance
06:56in the name of Jesus Christ.
06:58Give her peace and joy in the name of Jesus.
07:01Strengthen this woman of God.
07:03Hallelujah.
07:04Father, for you have great and mighty things for her.
07:06Protect those children, God.
07:08Hallelujah, God, wherever they may be.
07:10And, God, we believe and we trust that you're going to bring them back home to her
07:15in the name of Jesus Christ.
07:16Touch, Father.
07:17You can do what we can't do.
07:21So I'm just ready.
07:22I'm ready for my kids to come home.
07:24And then the power of just going right on down, right to the other one.
07:29Right here and now.
07:30How are you feeling?
07:31I'm ready.
07:32I'm ready for my babies to come home.
07:33I'm going to keep fighting.
07:37No matter how many stumbling blocks they try to put in my way,
07:40I'm not going to give up.
07:41I'm going to keep fighting for my babies.
07:42I know.
07:43That's right.
07:44And they're coming home.
07:45Y'all ready to go, yeah?
07:46Yep.
07:47Bring our babies home now!
07:49Right now!
07:50Now!
07:51Right now!
07:52We are not trying to stop until our babies come home.
07:57Father, if you don't say something, you are a part of the problem.
08:02These mothers are out here fighting for these children,
08:06fighting for these children,
08:07and we want you to understand that your patience keeps them in this system.
08:11Wake up, North Carolina!
08:13Wake up!
08:14Wake up, North Carolina!
08:16Wake up!
08:17Wake up!
08:18Wake up!
08:19Wake up!
08:20Wake up!
08:21Wake up!
08:22Wake up!
08:23We are talking to you!
08:26These children have been in custody for three years!
08:30Bring them home!
08:31Now!
08:32Bring them home!
08:33Now!
08:34Bring them home!
08:35Now!
08:45One.
08:47Two.
08:49Three.
08:51Four.
08:53Five.
08:56Five.
08:59Kelly, you have been through a lot.
09:03You have changed for the best of you and your children.
09:06Right now, I am so proud of you,
09:08because even though you have so much going on,
09:11you keep your head up high.
09:13You don't let anyone or anything get in the way of you getting what you need to get done.
09:18Each and every day, I hope for my babies to come home with me and their brother
09:24and all the people that love them and care about them
09:27and that will do anything to keep them safe.
09:43Mommy's almost there, okay?
09:46Alright, I'm going to see you when I get there, okay?
09:49I love you.
09:51Alright, bye-bye.
09:54Bye-bye.
10:00Look at his little baby.
10:06I want to come home.
10:08I know you want to come home.
10:11Just a little while longer, okay?
10:13You'll be home soon.
10:25Mom?
10:27You are?
10:43Happy birthday to you.
10:48Happy birthday to you.
10:53Happy birthday to you.
10:58Happy birthday, dear Phyllis.
11:04Happy birthday to you.
11:24I see you.
11:27Look.
11:30My whistle.
11:35Mommy, can I blow the mic?
11:38Your whistle? Yeah, you can.
11:42Whoa, it's a bubble party.
11:47Happy birthday to you.
11:50Oh, wait.
12:08I'll run some more.
12:10Thank you, Mr. David.
12:12Alright.
12:14Bye-bye.
12:20I have a court date tomorrow on the 5th,
12:23and it's reunification time.
12:28And I'm hopeful and believe and trust
12:35that my children and I will be reunified tomorrow.
12:45Pretend like none of us are in this room
12:47and you talking to this judge,
12:49and when you finish saying what you say,
12:52the judge is going to say,
12:53I believe you, your kids are going to come home.
12:55That's the kind of passion, and that's how you need to speak.
12:58It's okay to read it.
12:59It's not about memorizing the words.
13:01It's about saying it from the heart
13:03so that they can see you as a human being,
13:05because right now you a number,
13:06a case number on a piece of paper.
13:08Right.
13:09Okay? So do it that way.
13:11Okay.
13:12I would like to make a statement
13:14because my voice have been muted for far too long.
13:18I'm standing before you as a mother
13:20who has been robbed of irreplaceable time with my children.
13:23I'm standing before you as a mother
13:25who has been forced to watch my children,
13:28Zion and Prince, suffer trauma on top of trauma
13:32because all of these people refuse to stop and listen
13:36and see the truth.
13:38This is the 1,082nd day my children have been in foster care.
13:43We cannot allow it to be day 1,083.
13:47This past Thursday,
13:48Attorney Abney called my attorney
13:50and told her that the department would be recommending
13:53my children come home today.
13:55For the first time in almost three years,
13:58I was able to sleep peacefully
14:00because I could feel the moment
14:02my babies were going to walk through the door to our home.
14:05My family has been through enough.
14:07We've been through enough.
14:08I'm not here today asking for more time with my children.
14:10I'm here requesting the immediate return of Prince and Zion
14:13to my care and custody
14:15and the determination of the department and court's jurisdiction
14:18over my family.
14:20That is the only way my family can begin to heal.
14:24I need to be able to love all my babies tonight
14:26without the thought of dealing with the same people
14:29who have been the cause of our trauma and pain.
14:32But I'm at peace right now
14:34because I believe you will see me today.
14:37Alexis Nguyen, the mother of Prince and Zion,
14:39remember my babies.
14:41These are the human beings caught in the middle of all of this.
14:45Just send my babies home.
14:47Thank you, Your Honor.
14:50All right.
15:03So...
15:05Okay, well, we, I mean, at this point,
15:07we just need to send our energy to Dutch,
15:10and tomorrow we hear the final decision of if the boys come home, right?
15:14And we got to believe that.
15:16I'm going to say this real strong.
15:18And if you don't listen to me at this point, it is what it is.
15:23Use your voice tomorrow.
15:25Ask to read your statement.
15:27Ask to read your statement.
15:29You need her to see you as a person, as a mother.
15:34And a mother is going to make a strong argument
15:37about why her children needs to be at home.
15:40And this is what I have done.
15:42I was in a terrible situation, but this is where I'm at now.
15:45And this is how my family has worked to heal.
15:48She didn't hear any of that today.
15:53Zion and Prince...
15:58Mommy can't wait till y'all come home
16:01so that we can make up for all the missed times.
16:08But Mommy will always be your superhero
16:10because I'm not going to stop fighting for y'all.
16:13Sometimes superheroes have bad times, bad days.
16:17Sometimes they may lose something in the moment,
16:20lose a battle in the moment.
16:22But one thing they always do is get back up,
16:24and they keep fighting until they win.
16:26And Mommy's going to win this case and get y'all back home.
16:44I have more visitations with my children,
16:46meaning that I have unsupervised visitations.
16:49I get to take pictures of my kids again.
16:52I get to have my virtual calls back.
16:56And I'll be spending time with my kids this Saturday at our church.
17:02And the SS tried to recommend that I go to church,
17:06but they didn't want me to go.
17:09So I'm happy about that.
17:11She has done everything.
17:13She's done everything that she was supposed to do.
17:16And so, like, this system has a way of, like,
17:20giving us crumbs and making us feel, you know what I mean?
17:23And that's just the reality of the situation.
17:25But at the same time, we have to, you know,
17:28we have to make sure that we're doing the right thing.
17:31We have to make sure that we're doing the right thing.
17:34We have to make sure that we're doing the right thing.
17:37And we have to, like, feel that, accept that, and move forward.
17:46I'm sorry?
17:50Oh, how are you?
18:03Okay.
18:08Do you want to reschedule it to the week after?
18:10Or do you just not want to have it?
18:12No, that's fine.
18:13I'll just wait, then.
18:15I was trying to, you know, get a meeting going before the court hearing.
18:20But that's fine.
18:22Okay.
18:24And just to also let you know, just so it can be on your mind,
18:27because you are representing yourself sometimes when there's, like,
18:30information that needs to be shared because you are, like, quote, unquote,
18:33like your own attorney.
18:35My attorney will have to be there as well, so.
18:38Okay.
18:40Yes, ma'am.
18:41But thank you so much.
18:42Okay.
18:43Bye-bye.
18:44Bye-bye.
18:47♪♪♪
18:57♪♪♪
19:08Ready?
19:11Dear Amayah, Phillip, and Jaquel,
19:13Mommy is fighting so we can all be a family.
19:18I spend every day trying to get you, Amayah, and Phillip home,
19:22where you guys should be.
19:24I love y'all.
19:26I knew I loved y'all the first time I held y'all in my arms.
19:30I knew then we were meant to be.
19:33I feel so bad that I can't come and get y'all,
19:36and I feel even worse when y'all ask to come home with me.
19:40And I have to say that y'all can,
19:42and that y'all will be home soon,
19:44because y'all should be home now.
19:46I miss y'all so much that I can't even explain.
19:49I want y'all to know Mommy love y'all,
19:53and it is nothing that anyone or anything that can stop that.
19:57You guys will always be Mommy's number one, no matter what.
20:10♪♪♪
20:20♪♪♪
20:31Show me.
20:33Show me.
20:35I see.
20:37Hey!
20:39Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.
20:42Jump!
20:44Jump, jump.
20:46Jump, jump, jump, jump, jump, jump, jump, jump, jump.
20:56They're jumping.
20:58What?
21:00You jumped high.
21:06I see you.
21:14Whoa.
21:16I jumped high.
21:17You did.
21:19Jump, jump.