Foster Youth Museum

In a glittering, gold-tiled room off of the sanctuary at Saint John’s Cathedral, a series of striking black-and-white portraits stands waiting to bring viewers into the world of Los Angeles’ foster youth.

After 18 years, Jamie Lee Evans recently left her job as director of the Youth Offering Unique Tangible Help Training Project (YTP) at youth-led advocacy organization California Youth Connection (CYC) to embark on the next phase of her journey: Relocating to New Zealand.

I knew something special was about to happen when I walked up the stairs to the majestic Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. It was nearly dusk when I opened the front door and was ushered stage left into the world of Lost Childhoods.

The Foster Youth Museum, eight years in the making, had a resoundingly successful gallery show at Warehouse 416 in Oakland last month. Over two thousand people visited the exhibit, “Lost Childhoods,” a curated collection of art and artifacts donated by former foster youth that, in the words of museum co-director Jamie Lee Evans, are “the stories no one else will tell.”