One of my first experiences working in New York City (circa 2009) was collaborating with potential foster parents in New York. My job at that time was to go out and meet with them, screen their backgrounds, and visit their homes to see if they would be a great home placement for the vulnerable youth in the foster care system. I was extremely aware of the importance of identifying parents who would be safe and have healthy home environments for the youth to live in. Many of the first foster parent experiences I had at my agency was observing the sadness in the eyes of youth who were dropped off to our offices like garbage. Their clothing was in plastic bags and it wasn't good to see that every single day. It hurt me to the core to know that many of the parents dropping them off may have been struggling and living on fixed incomes. However, quite a few of them were foster parents who signed on to be advocates for these youth but for whatever reason it did not work out and the children were replaced back into the foster care system. Nationally there are over 440,000 children in the foster care system. what I hated most was getting the same question from potential parents, some of them were asking for cute, cuddly and perfect children (ages 0-8) are the lowest number of available children in the system. The higher number and most at need at teens and children with disabilities or special needs. This weekend I started to look for movies on christianity on Prime Video. I ran across a beautiful movie called "Box Of Faith" in which the central character loses her innocent father to incarceration (he was set up and he was found innocent). Unfortunately, in this instance since her mother was deceased, she would have to live in the foster care system. Like some children in this situation, this young lady had to either stay at the home and go into the foster care system or she had to go elsewhere. During my time as a Foster Care Professional, it was sad to see less families as potential homes for these children and like this central character, I knew quite a few youth in our program who ended up on the streets fending for themselves. Somehow during these experiences they find themselves crafting out places to live as homeless teens in areas such as car trains, buses, under highway bridges, and in storage facilities. You would be surprised at the amount of youth living in these conditions. As I watched this movie I found myself fighting for the central character as she got creative and resilience in her life situation. I believe though they are sometime rejected by others (social workers, case managers, their own family, and or siblings), they find a deep sense of love and independence as they fight to through to find their own voice and find safe spaces to live and breath. This movie also reminded me that healing will only come after work, collaboration, and acceptance either of themselves or through finding a way to handle the emotional trauma of their life circumstances. I pray that these youth one day find a person that will support, love and be a bridge until they can get to the other side. Where love, healing, and stability resides.
(c) 2021 by Mocha Sistah
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