TV REVIEWS : Biological Mother Seeks Belated Justice in ‘Child’

A mother’s skepticism over the mysterious death of her child in a foster home results in the adoptive mother being charged with murder in “A Child Lost Forever” (at 9 tonight on NBC, Channels 4, 36 and 39).

Beverly D’Angelo tackles the role of the biological mother with gusto, segueing from an incorrigible, pregnant 17-year-old forced to sign her baby over to the state toa successful real estate woman 16 years later who shockingly discovers that her adopted child died from a blow to the stomach at age 3.

The production is based on the real-life Jerry Sherwood and her pursuit of belated justice in the death of her son, Dennis Jurgens, while under foster care in 1976 in White Bear, Minn. The production, by inference, not only assails a foster-care system gone wrong but also pointedly dramatizes how little society understood or had even heard the words “child abuse” as recently as the 1970s.

Facing indifference and resistance from blase social workers, cynical police and even her other children, the mother’s resolve finally lands an ally in St. Paul investigative reporter Frank Maxwell (Will Patton). Together they doggedly force authorities to reopen the case.

Crisply directed by Claudia Weill and well-scripted by Judith Parker and Stephanie Liss, the movie is etched with strong supporting characters. Dana Ivey delivers a chilling, bleak, ramrod portrait of the monstrous adoptive mother. Her silent, pinched-up decorum in court is haunting.