Kind Hearted Woman

In a special two-part series that illuminates the epidemic of child sexual abuse on Native-American reservations and the growing scandal of some tribes’ failure to protect those children, acclaimed filmmaker David Sutherland (“The Farmer’s Wife,” “Country Boys”) profiles Robin Charboneau, a 32-year-old divorced single mother and Oglala Sioux woman living on North Dakota’s Spirit Lake Reservation. Sutherland follows Charboneau over three years as she struggles to raise her children, Darian and Anthony, further her education, heal the wounds of sexual abuse she suffered as a child and battle alcoholism. At the same time, she fights in tribal court with her ex-husband for custody of the children, even after he’s convicted of sexually molesting his own daughter and another child. Charboneau’s quest to heal her family, find a new man to love her and help guide her children, earn a degree in social work and return to her reservation to help prevent the abuse of women and children leads her on a journey of discovery, heartbreak and, ultimately, redemption. The program is a co-presentation of FRONTLINE and INDEPENDENT LENS. (Source: PBS)