This movie has been on a few times on Lifetime but seems to be unavailable for purchase and I would like to be able to tell friends when it is on but that is hard to do as lifetime gives little warning as to when it is going to be shown. All in all the movie is not bad and I think pretty much tells a true story about Steven and his kidnapping. I would like to know if the boy who helped kidnap Timmy ever received any punishment for his part. The fact that the authorities handled this case in a very slipshod manner from the beginning is really much of the tragedy. Steven was in some schools where his picture had been circulated by his parents and actually in some cases his background was questioned by a school and nothing was done. When Steven brought in Timmy he was (according to the movie) left in the interrogation room all night and given no chance to sleep. He was never really given help to deal with all that happened to him and that is really sad. It didn't appear his family was really able to deal with all that happened to Steven, especially the sexual aspects of it. That boy needed a big hug from his father and some real sympathy for what had happened to him and it didn't seem he ever got it except for the one moment they portrayed in the movie where his mother brought him some things to him where he was living on his own in that trailer. The while family needed some counseling to deal with this whole thing and never got any. Society really failed for this family; never even really punishing his kidnapper in a proper way. I know that many people feel that the only way to prevent such things in the future is to keep tight control and watch their kids 24/7 and never let their kids be on their own. I grew up in the early 50's and we were left to ourselves to play outside all day long. We didn't have to be put in the state of mind that every stranger was a threat and we still knew how to take care of ourselves. I am not talking about when we were only 6 years old or younger, but when we were going to school in grade school we were relatively safe and also knew that certain things were wrong. We wouldn't get into a car with a complete stranger I am sure, but please realize that when we were later in the teenage years it was common to hitchhike. There was always the warning to watch out for someone who might want to harm you but the incidences of that happening were very rare. I think our society has evolved into a place where people who would once feel restrained to do something now go ahead and do it. I know there is a need to have a more watchful eye on kids and warn them more, but the way we are now protecting those kids is causing a lot of harm too. Not everyone is a predator and out to harm your kids as many would seem to believe. We are teaching kids that everyone they don't know is a boogie-man. Total miss-trust is just as bad as total trust. I would hope that the judicial system could meet out justice for once and not just the letter of the law in some of these cases as was done with the Strayner case. I hope that level headed people can sometime restore our system to being a justice system where justice is meted out. Anyway this is a very sad case and the movie does it some justice but leaves you wondering why more was not done to help Steven deal with it all. Why couldn't the proceedings been closed to the public when he had to testify for instance? Why did the sheriff come to the home with the pictures and not just confront Steven privately or at least insist it be on a private basis in the beginning? This whole thing was handled very badly. Some blame has to go to the family for not dealing with it all in a counseling atmosphere as it was shown that Stevens father had some real issues with it all. If you want to see another place where WE (society) failed tremendously in helping someone defenseless, then read "A Child Called It" by David Peltzer. We need to be ashamed how we failed these kids.
Review of I Know My First Name Is Steven
