The powerful adoption film you need to see

Birth mothers are usually left out of adoption stories. One woman is changing that by telling her story — and audiences can't get enough.

Twenty-three years after placing her newborn for adoption, Kate Stapleton made a remarkable documentary about her story. That film is winning awards and drawing notice across the country.

The Inner Sea is an unforgettable recounting of a young woman’s heartbreaking decision to place her baby for adoption — and the powerful working of grace as that baby is now a happy and whole adult woman who works with her birth mother on beautiful creative projects.

The story Hollywood won't tell

When we see adoption stories in movies, we meet the adoptive parents. We see the adopted child. But the birth mother? She's usually a footnote, a mystery, or nowhere to be found.

Kate Stapleton decided not to let that silence continue.

“There's this echoing silence and lack of voice from birth parents,” Stapleton told Aleteia. “It just doesn't tend to be the voice that's heard about adoption.”

She decided to break that silence by directing a documentary about the hardest decision she ever made.

The shores of the Great Lakes become a place of healing in The Inner Sea.

A film she didn't want to make

Stapleton never planned to make this movie.

“I did not want to make a documentary at all,” she admitted. “It was actually my husband's idea.”

Her husband, a high school theology teacher for 17 years, saw something she couldn't see at first. “I think you should do this project,” he told her. “I think it would be really powerful.”

He was right.

Once she and her husband had the idea to make the film, the pieces fell into place when she shared the idea with talented cinematographers Martin Jernberg and Ben Kruis, to their enthusiastic interest.

“God really placed the perfect people at the right time to make it happen. And as it developed and grew as a project, it became really important to me that I direct it and produce it so I could be in control of telling that story,” Stapleton said.

Kate Stapleton's birth daughter, Brigid, shown here with her band mates, is a member of the Acaciawood musical group.

A story of God’s love

The working of God’s grace and goodness are the heart of the film. This is evident from the beginning, as the opening frames show Stapleton’s birth daughter with her adoptive parents and siblings. She is deeply rooted and grounded in the love of her family, and that joy is central to the story.

And while this story is about adoption, it’s also about so much more than that. Stapleton said:

I don't think you need to be connected to adoption in any way to watch this film, because the real message is being open to grace and hope and love, even though suffering is such an intrinsic part of love.

When we love someone, our hearts might be broken, but still we should not be afraid to love.

This isn't just a film for people touched by adoption—it's for anyone who needs a reason to hope in the goodness of love. This is a story the world needs to hear.