Not Home: A documentary about kids living in nursing facilities is a 90-minute documentary that investigates the history and current trends of the long-term institutionalization of children with developmental disabilities living in U.S. nursing facilities as seen through the lives of four families.

There are more than 10 million U.S. children with a developmental disability. Most parents today reject institutional care as an option for their special needs child. But parents today are becoming more and more overwhelmed, tapped out emotionally, physically and financially and feel they have no place to turn but a nursing home.

Not Home follows four families in an attempt to understand their reasons for institutionalizing their child. The film shows the history of how people with a disability have been treated, the disability rights movement in America, and the healthcare policies that favor institutionalization rather than home and community based care.  U.S. healthcare policies often fund the institutionalization of children with a disability rather than a Medicaid waiver that provides community support, allowing the child to live in a home with a family in the community.

The Not Home documentary focuses on four interweaving stories: Mathew, Qualeigh, Essie Evans and Nola Sayne – a young adult, a child and two parents whose separate lives intersect the through institutionalization of children and young adults with a developmental disability. In between each story are interviews from advocates, activists, elected officials and other parents from across the country facing similar challenges.