East of Hope Street (1997)

What does it take for one young person to survive America's overburdened social services system? Based on actual events, 15 year old Alicia Montalvo (Jude Herrera) escapes the civil war violence in her native El Salvador to live in Los Angeles with her younger brother and crack-addict aunt. Child welfare authorities eventually step in and place Alicia and her brother in foster care, separating the two. At Alicia's first foster home she's led astray by the family's other foster daughter (Greer Bohanon) and falls victim to a sexual predator. Police, pregnancy, the group home for pregnant teens, the house bully, rape, and a shooting. It's more bad stuff than one human being should have to bear. Alicia's story still does have hope, mainly present by way of a wise and true friend, Rosa (Magda Rivera) and a devoted counselor, Casey (Tim Russ).