Synopsis
When Pete and Ellie decide to start a family, they stumble into the world of foster care adoption. They hope to take in one small child, but when they meet three siblings, including a rebellious 15-year-old girl, they find themselves speeding from zero to three kids overnight. Pete and Ellie must try to learn the ropes of instant parenthood in the hope of becoming a family.
Reflections
I recently rewatched the movie Instant Family. It’s a heartwarming comedy. And no dount, the movie strings together many laugh-out-loud moments. But it hit a nerve with me – because I’ve lived that chaos.
About eight years ago, my husband and I opened our home to two children whose family of origin wasn’t able to care for them in a safe, healthy way. Just like in the movie, the transition was anything but smooth. The survival skills our kids developed while living in their first homes didn’t exactly translate well to life in a nurturing, structured family. That’s not because any of us were doing anything wrong… it is because trauma rewires how kids see the world. It changes what they expect from adults. And it doesn’t disappear overnight.
In Instant Family, everything gets neatly tied up by the end. But in real life, there’s no tidy timeline for healing. It can take years—sometimes a lifetime—to work through the hurt, to build trust, to understand how to be part of a healthy family dynamic when you didn’t see one modeled at a young age.
That’s why I’m so grateful for the work we do at Henrico CASA. When children go through transitions like these—whether it’s to foster care, reunification, or adoption—we make sure they aren’t going through it alone. The children we serve have a dedicated CASA Advocate, someone whose sole job is to be in their corner.
We can’t tie everything up in a bow, but we can make sure no child walks through this journey without a safe, steady adult rooting for them.
