@Vingo said:

I don’t understand the huge moral dilemma in the end. He simply could’ve returned the child to her real mother and subsequently contacted child services as she was evidently an unfit mother. There’s plenty of evidence to indicate this. In fact, the police should have done this in the first place instead of a convoluted kidnaping plot. I loved this movie and respect the themes and question it raises. But just in terms of plot, there was clearly a legal way around the problem that didn’t have to involve, kidnaping, murder and conspiracy.

Definitely an excessively contrived plot, I had a hard time understanding characters motivations. Also the girlfriend leaving the protagonist in the end felt forced: in hindsight she should have realized what you said, and also that living clandestinely (what about education and healthcare?) would have ultimately been worse that staying with her crooked mother for the girl

It's generally preferred to keep kids with their parent or parents, even if they're not ideal parents. Sure, she seemed like a monster but she never actually physically or emotionally abused the kid, other than leaving her alone sometimes.

The lesbian couple that drove off a cliff last year with their 6 adopted, homeschooled kids had a history of withholding food and other forms of abuse. They were previously visited by CPS and police after neighbors became concerned, and one parent even plead guilty years prior to domestic assault against one of her daughters but still, none of the kids were removed.

@MongoLloyd said:

It's generally preferred to keep kids with their parent or parents, even if they're not ideal parents. Sure, she seemed like a monster but she never actually physically or emotionally abused the kid, other than leaving her alone sometimes.

The lesbian couple that drove off a cliff last year with their 6 adopted, homeschooled kids had a history of withholding food and other forms of abuse. They were previously visited by CPS and police after neighbors became concerned, and one parent even plead guilty years prior to domestic assault against one of her daughters but still, none of the kids were removed.

That’s a horrible tragedy for those kids.

I work in child protection and welfare in Australia. Admittedly I do not do any of the field work. I’m just a policy officer setting up standards and you’re right that the system tries to move parents towards reconciliation and only takes the child away where there is a risk of significant harm.

I don’t know what CPS would’ve done for this little girl, but I still think it’s worth a try. It can’t be worse than stripping her of her identity and giving her a new fraudulent identity. How is this little girl suppose to survive on her own in the future with no real identity?

CPS would have investigated the home and interviewed the mother and the daughter. Without signs of abuse or a dangerous environment, I doubt they could have removed the child. As for the film, I would have let Jack Doyle and his wife keep the kid. It's more than likely she would have grown up to be a lot like her mother, otherwise.

Cool movie! I found it not bad at all, but I couldn't stand (I believe it was) the mother's bigoted statements in it.