Journalists are invited to a special screening May 11 of a new PBS
documentary highlighting the problems of youth who age out of the
foster care system.
The screening, scheduled for 9:30 a.m. to noon at the downtown
Nashville Public Library, will be followed by a panel discussion
including special guest Tipper Gore, Mayor Bill Purcell and moderated
by Andy Shookhoff, associate director for the Vanderbilt University
Child and Family Policy Center. The discussion will be with members of
the Tennessee Youth Advisory Council (www.tnfosteryouth.org). The council is a group of current and former Middle Tennessee foster youth.
Moving from adolescence to adulthood is always challenging, but the
transition is even more difficult for the 20,000 young people who age
out of foster care every year, typically at age 18. After years of
being supervised by government foster care agencies, these young people
are suddenly on their own, often with no stable home, resources or
preparation. As a result, many face problems such as homelessness,
parenthood and no high school diploma. Some 800 youth age out of the
foster care system each year in Tennessee.
Aging Out, a new 90-minute documentary airing at 8 p.m., May 26 on
WNPT, Channel 8, tells the stories of three young people raised in
foster care in New York and Los Angeles. These three compelling youths
ñ David Griffin, Risa Bejarano and Daniella Anderson ñ face daunting
challenges after leaving foster care, including parenthood, drug
addiction, homelessness and jail. Each of them struggle to rise above
their own troubled childhoods in order to realize their dreams of
independence.
A local documentary, Avenues of Hope, featuring former foster care
youth from Nashville, including Tennessee Titan Keith Bulluck as well
as local organizations trying to help former foster youth, will air
immediately after the national broadcast.
Aging Out is a production of Public Policy Productions in
association with Thirteen/WNET New York. Funding is provided by the Jim
Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative, the Annie E. Casey Foundation and
Casey Family Programs. The Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative is
a national foundation based in St. Louis whose mission is to help youth
in foster care make successful transitions into adulthood.
The Aging Out event is sponsored by Fostering Results, the Mayor‘s
Office of Children and Youth, Nashville Public Television and the
Vanderbilt Child and Family Policy Center.
The event is by invitation only and is not open to the public. It is open to the media.
Contact Kim Crane, (615) 322-1461 or kim.crane@vanderbilt.edu,
for more information about the programs provided by the Vanderbilt
Child and Family Policy Center in partnership with the Jim Casey Youth
Opportunities Initiative.
Additional information, including community discussion guides for
Aging Out, is available on the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative
website, www.jimcaseyyouth.org, and from PBS at www.pbs.org.
For more Vanderbilt news, visit www.vanderbilt.edu/news.
Media contact: Melanie Catania, (615) 322-NEWS
Melanie.catania@vanderbilt.edu