Finding Home

A Foster Youth Story

Finding Home: A Foster Youth Story  tells the story of four teens — Summer, Glorianna, Kalonji and Jaloni — as they transition out of foster care and must now embrace the impending realities of life on their own. The film premiered on PBS in Nov, 2018 and in 2019 won an LA Emmy in the Crime and Social Justice category and 2nd place at the LA Press Club Awards in the feature documentary category.

Film Trailer

Backstory

In 2017, executive producer Karen Hunte approached me to produce and direct an hour-long documentary about foster youth for PBS SoCal. The film was part of “To Foster Change,” PBS SoCal’s 3-year initiative to help improve the outcomes of foster youth in Southern California through public media.

My goal was to humanize and help put a face on a population too often stigmatized and depicted as troubled, aggressive, or delinquent. I wanted the youth to be able to tell their stories in an honest, personal, and unvarnished manner.  After three months of research and “casting,” my team and I began filming the lives of Summer, a 17-yr old trans female who yearned to be adopted, Glorianna, a brilliant 19-yr old artist who suffered mental health issues and who struggled with chronic food and housing insecurity, and 18-yr old twins, Kalonji and Jaloni, who grew up in poverty, but found love and stability in the home of Paulette, a former foster youth who dedicated her life to fostering Black teenage boys. At the time of filming, she had fostered over 56 children! 

I'm still in regular touch with Summer, Glorianna, Kalonji, and Jaloni, whose lives (like all of ours) continue to be a mix of challenge and small victories.