Mira Zimet

When a mentor and a pastor got involved, it changed the trajectory of Emmerald's life in foster care. She talked about it with Mira Zimet for the third season of The Storyboard Project.

Shayla struggled through anxiety and found stability in supportive people. She talked to Mira Zimet about her journey for the third season of The Storyboard Project.

Eltuan moved 16 times while in Kentucky's foster care system. He talked to Mira Zimet for the third season of The Storyboard Project.

“I wasn’t allowed to talk about anything, the way I found I could talk about what was happening in my life was through these surrealistic drawings and paintings that I’d create.

In the system since he was an infant, at 18 Walter was ready to go. While he had lived with this same foster mother most of his life, he was done with foster care and wanted to age out.

One of the most difficult things for youth in foster care — after being taken away from their home — is also losing connection with their siblings. It isn’t unusual for brothers and sisters to be separated and sent to different homes and that was the case with George and Tony, two brothers, just a few years apart in age.

“When the social worker came, I lied, I said ‘we don’t get beaten, we don’t have those issues.’ We were trained, whatever happens in the house, stays in the house.” At thirteen, Sixto, in the foster care system since eleven months old, was dealing with abuse from his adopted mother. 

One of the many worries foster youth face as they transition into adulthood is ‘how can I possibly be a good parent when I never had the unconditional love of a mother or father?’

The narrative so often heard about group homes suggests that staff are cold-hearted and rules are rigid, leaving the teenagers who live there feeling like they have no freedom and no voice.