Director and writer James Lapine did a decent job with this screenplay. Sure this story has been done many times over, but having the wonderful and impactful Viola Davis in this film gave it that extra little boost it needed. Although the slow pacing could not be saved by Viola, the story in its entirety was pretty good. Would I see it again? No. Would I recommend it? Sure, if I know someone likes this type of film. It's a 7/10 from me.

Outstanding film showcasing the interpersonal relationships of people working and involved in family court regarding children.

Everyone here from the judge to the defendant has his own personal story of woe; however, we do rise above a Peyton Place mentality.

As the judge, Viola Davis turns in a great performance in finding out about her unfaithful husband and thinking back to the brother she lost from a heroine overdose.

We see the shortcomings of the ACS agency with their delays, foul-ups and sometimes tragedy ensuing.

We see a brand new lawyer assigned to a case where a mother disciplining her child is thought to have abused the child. We see what this mother has to go through in court due to legal hang-ups and a system stretched to the limit.

Nothing is sugar-coated here including the ending.

Catalina Sandino Moreno of the Colombian movie "Maria Full of Grace" together with Viola Davis and Hayden Panettiere stars in this excellent Lifetime TV movie "Custody".It tells the story of a Hispanic woman at New York who is facing a Court Planning System or C.P.S. wherein she found herself fighting to regain her children back after she lost them.

Sara Diaz just arrived home.When she found that her daughter Tia and son David weren't at home,she decided to look for them that led her fight angrily with David which caused her to her to accidentally hit her 10-year-old son on the face.When someone noticed that her son has a black eye on her face at school time,it was reported at the New York Court Planning System which led her kinds that were taken away from her custody temporarily.In the process,the hearing as been set to determine whether who should take custody of her children.Martha Schulman acts as the judge on the court while Ally Fisher takes the case of Sara pro bono.As the case is on going,it also takes us to the subplots of the stories of Martha and Ally with the former heading towards a divorce with her husband and the latter having lack of experience in court hearing as she just came from school recently as well as being part of the rich family who already experienced some form of child abuse from her uncle.The movie takes us on how the people involved and the challenges that they are currently facing from how would Martha handle the case being on a brink of a divorce,how Ally would defend a seemingly poor and Hispanic Sara when she apparently belong to a rich Caucasian family, and how Sara would handle the formalities and hearings on the court due to her lack of education and would want her kids every second of the day.

This Lifetime TV movie was definitely not one's standard TV movie.First,we have a great collection of stories from the judge Martha,the lawyer Ally and of course the mother Sara.The stories maybe different but they all came together at the end as we get to see them all overcome the challenges and struggles they have faced off court.Second,we get to see great performances from Viola Davis, Hayden Panettiere and especially Catalina Sandino Moreno,who definitely was interesting and engaging portraying Sara.Third,we also get to see how different the poor and the rich treat their kids as shown between that of Sara in comparison to that of the families of Martha and Ally.Finally,the viewer also would think about how Court Planning System with regards into doing its job of deciding to whose custody it places the kids.One may other be in favor or not in favor with it at all.Overall,it was an excellent TV movie.