Nine Months in the Bronx – Felicia’s final test
Felicia has just made a painful choice in order to keep her baby – but the authorities say she must keep proving to them that she’s capable of raising her child as a single parent. Watch the final part of Nine Months in the Bronx to see if Felicia can do it.
In the film, the BBC's Anna Bressanin follows Felicia throughout her pregnancy as she tries to navigate a child welfare system which critics claim puts unfair demands on poor and minority women.
For instance, the Administration for Children's Services in New York claims they do not routinely check hospital records to see if mothers are using drugs, but the mothers in the film say they have been drug tested during prenatal care visits or at the moment they gave birth.
Felicia’s two older children are living with a relative and are under children's services supervision after the city agency investigated an incident involving their father. That triggered this ACS case and meant Felicia had to prove she’s fit to be a mother.
This is a story about love, reproductive choices and what a mother in the Bronx has to sacrifice in order to keep her baby.
A film by Anna Bressanin
Edited by Anna Bressanin and Stephen Beard; animation by Ginevra Boni; audio post by Daniel Dzula.
16 Jun 2016