Search - Aging Out on DVD

A gritty look at a side of foster care everyone wants to avo

MG | 04/26/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As a Guardian ad Litem who has worked with many teens I can say this documentary accurately depicts how poorly we prepare foster youth for adulthood. So many fall through the cracks of the broken system and are so likely to repeat the family cycle that brought them into the foster care system as children or youths. The states that take these children away from their parents to give them a better life need to start working on means to assure that outcome. Many of the youths in the documentary describe the devastating effects of being moved again and again from home to home. They painfully share the fragmentation of their emotional attachments to anyone who cares for them, leading to their inability to care about or for themselves.



As to the reviewer above who mentioned the extra features pieces, I think the decision as to who they could include in the main documentary was probably based on the length of time they could follow the youths in question.



The epilogue of the documentary is heartbreaking. People who are upset with the outcomes should seriously think about giving back to their community and becoming mentors, Guardians ad Litem or Court Appointed Special Advocates for our foster youth. The children in foster care need advocates."