Nine Months in the Bronx – Will Felicia keep her baby?

In part five of Nine Months In The Bronx, it’s judgement day for Felicia. Just three days after giving birth, she must take her baby to a hearing where the authorities will determine if she can keep him.

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.

Can she now prove she’s fit to be a mother – and will it come down to a choice between her son and his father?

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.

This is a story about love, reproductive choices and what a mother in the Bronx has to sacrifice in order to keep her baby.

Edited by Anna Bressanin and Stephen Beard; animation by Ginevra Boni; audio post by Daniel Dzula.