I am looking for a black and white movie I saw years ago. It is about a father trying to bring up his sons but he goes out to work one day and someone reports him for leaving them alone and the boys get taken into foster care where they are separated and abused - one gets his legs broken I think. In the meantime the father remarries and they have a baby, all the while they are trying to get his sons back.

This sounds exactly like a 1987 made for TV movie with marc harmon called "after the promise".

Yes! That's it! I wonder why I remember it being black and white.. A lot of it is shot in the dark, I suppose. Thank you very much!