wexwimpy
December 6th 04, 04:53 PM
See foster care as the children see it
By ANA VECIANA-SUAREZ
There were times, while recording the stories of countless foster
children, that filmmaker Don Horwitz would return home, emotionally
exhausted and physically spent. Their tales were so raw -- their
courage so admirable -- that he needed time to recover.
''We could only do three or four days of filming at one time,''
recalls Horwitz, a former Miamian who now resides in Oella, Md. ``I've
done a lot of interviews in my life, but with this project it was very
different. We were building relationships. I was becoming part of
their lives and they were becoming part of mine.''
The result was a 60-minute documentary, The Beat Down Club, that
presents a painful, poignant and shocking picture of foster care and
what happens to the children who often languish in it. The film is
told through the eyes of kids in Miami, Boston and Chicago. It's being
screened at 7 p.m. Monday at Miami Dade College's Wolfson Campus.
Nationwide almost 550,000 children are in foster care. Of those,
126,000 are available for adoption. While children stay in the system
for about three years, more than 20,000 never get to leave. ''They
don't ever know what it is to live in a stable environment,'' Horwitz
says.
It took Horwitz four years, hundreds of interviews and 148 hours of
footage to arrive at the final version of the documentary. After the
first year, Horwitz and his team decided to focus on foster children
who were ''aging out'' of the system -- in other words, leaving
because they were turning 18. He felt they could provide an unusually
frank view of their past, within the system as well as with their
biological family, and an assessment of what they expected of their
future.
Horwitz wanted to dispel the myth that kids placed in foster care are
somehow ''bad children'' who are to be blamed for their situation.
Many were so horribly abused and neglected, Horwitz says, that it was
amazing they could talk about it.
''I was blown away by the intensity of their stories,'' Horwitz says.
``But I was also blown away that they were willing to talk about it
because they didn't want this to happen to other children.''
Filming didn't always go smoothly. Sometimes the crew flew down for an
interview, only to find that the foster child wasn't emotionally ready
to face the camera. ''We never pressured the kids,'' he says. ``We
would just come back another day.''
Many, however, were eager to tell their story, no matter how painful.
One Miami youth, for instance, talked about being raped by her father.
But she was one of the success stories. After leaving the foster care
system, she has held a steady job. Some weren't so fortunate. Two boys
Horwitz filmed in Chicago are now in jail.
Horwitz's own interviews confirmed what studies have shown in the
past: ''All it takes is one person to make a difference in their
lives, somebody they can turn to in the critical points,'' he says.
Horwitz hopes the film will teach the public about the complexities of
the foster care system. He cites an alarming number for the urgency of
the problem: Eighty percent of today's prison population was once in
foster care, as were 30 percent of homeless people.
Horwitz was so affected by these children's stories that he is
devoting most of his time to advocate for them. He is launching the
''Listen With Your Heart Campaign'' to raise awareness of their
plight. He also has founded the non-profit KidLinks International,
whose first project is www.fosterlinks.org. With the help of the
Freddie Mac Foundation (which funded the documentary) and the Dave
Thomas Foundation, this website helps guide people through the process
of helping improve a foster child's life, either as a foster or
adoptive parent, an advocate or a guardian ad litum. Links connect to
programs, grants and other opportunities nationwide.
''We must come to the realization that as a society this is our
responsibility, not just the government's,'' he says. ``We can build
football stadiums and spend billions of dollars on a war, but we don't
take care of our children.''
Defend your civil liberties! Get information at http://www.aclu.org, become a member at http://www.aclu.org/join and get active at http://www.aclu.org/action.
By ANA VECIANA-SUAREZ
There were times, while recording the stories of countless foster
children, that filmmaker Don Horwitz would return home, emotionally
exhausted and physically spent. Their tales were so raw -- their
courage so admirable -- that he needed time to recover.
''We could only do three or four days of filming at one time,''
recalls Horwitz, a former Miamian who now resides in Oella, Md. ``I've
done a lot of interviews in my life, but with this project it was very
different. We were building relationships. I was becoming part of
their lives and they were becoming part of mine.''
The result was a 60-minute documentary, The Beat Down Club, that
presents a painful, poignant and shocking picture of foster care and
what happens to the children who often languish in it. The film is
told through the eyes of kids in Miami, Boston and Chicago. It's being
screened at 7 p.m. Monday at Miami Dade College's Wolfson Campus.
Nationwide almost 550,000 children are in foster care. Of those,
126,000 are available for adoption. While children stay in the system
for about three years, more than 20,000 never get to leave. ''They
don't ever know what it is to live in a stable environment,'' Horwitz
says.
It took Horwitz four years, hundreds of interviews and 148 hours of
footage to arrive at the final version of the documentary. After the
first year, Horwitz and his team decided to focus on foster children
who were ''aging out'' of the system -- in other words, leaving
because they were turning 18. He felt they could provide an unusually
frank view of their past, within the system as well as with their
biological family, and an assessment of what they expected of their
future.
Horwitz wanted to dispel the myth that kids placed in foster care are
somehow ''bad children'' who are to be blamed for their situation.
Many were so horribly abused and neglected, Horwitz says, that it was
amazing they could talk about it.
''I was blown away by the intensity of their stories,'' Horwitz says.
``But I was also blown away that they were willing to talk about it
because they didn't want this to happen to other children.''
Filming didn't always go smoothly. Sometimes the crew flew down for an
interview, only to find that the foster child wasn't emotionally ready
to face the camera. ''We never pressured the kids,'' he says. ``We
would just come back another day.''
Many, however, were eager to tell their story, no matter how painful.
One Miami youth, for instance, talked about being raped by her father.
But she was one of the success stories. After leaving the foster care
system, she has held a steady job. Some weren't so fortunate. Two boys
Horwitz filmed in Chicago are now in jail.
Horwitz's own interviews confirmed what studies have shown in the
past: ''All it takes is one person to make a difference in their
lives, somebody they can turn to in the critical points,'' he says.
Horwitz hopes the film will teach the public about the complexities of
the foster care system. He cites an alarming number for the urgency of
the problem: Eighty percent of today's prison population was once in
foster care, as were 30 percent of homeless people.
Horwitz was so affected by these children's stories that he is
devoting most of his time to advocate for them. He is launching the
''Listen With Your Heart Campaign'' to raise awareness of their
plight. He also has founded the non-profit KidLinks International,
whose first project is www.fosterlinks.org. With the help of the
Freddie Mac Foundation (which funded the documentary) and the Dave
Thomas Foundation, this website helps guide people through the process
of helping improve a foster child's life, either as a foster or
adoptive parent, an advocate or a guardian ad litum. Links connect to
programs, grants and other opportunities nationwide.
''We must come to the realization that as a society this is our
responsibility, not just the government's,'' he says. ``We can build
football stadiums and spend billions of dollars on a war, but we don't
take care of our children.''
Defend your civil liberties! Get information at http://www.aclu.org, become a member at http://www.aclu.org/join and get active at http://www.aclu.org/action.