Surveying Stereotypes.: Confronting Stereotypes About Youth in Foster Care. Part I.

Artist Statement.

On the very first day at the beginning of the semester, our final projects were introduced. I’ll admit that I was a little intimidated. It was only the first class! It had only been in session for 30 minutes, and we were already talking about a finale for the next sixteen weeks of work. Talk about putting on the pressure.

Despite my intimidation, I started thinking about what I wanted to accomplish for the final project. Through observing and listening to other classmates, as well as insight about the foster care system through Kids Matter, Inc., I decided that I wanted to focus on stereotypes. At this time, I had not narrowed down my topic by what sort of stereotypes I wanted to deal with; I had just decided that stereotypes was a subject that interested me enough to stick with for the entire semester.

I think my impulse to explore the idea of stereotypes and its relation to the foster care system came from my own subjective thoughts about foster care youth. Initially, I think I had it in my mind when I found out that I was going to be working with a foster care program that I was going to be working with a bunch of rowdy, troublemakers. It seemed that I already had a predisposition about foster care, and the people who were placed into foster care. However, the more I started to dig into my thought process, and the research I had found, my ideas really changed. I started to wonder why I initially related trouble and foster care together. I wanted to explore where my predispositions came from; why I had negative thoughts about foster care without really having a basis or justification for my subjectivity. It takes a lot of courage for an artist to admit a flawed opinion. And it takes even more courage to actually explore the real answer to the problem.

When I think about where my predisposition about foster care youth came from, television and movies pop into my head. I have seen numerous movies where foster care youth have been portrayed in a negative light, whether it is troublemakers, bullies, or even drug addicts. I’ve never had a personal experience with foster care, and I have never known anyone in foster care, so I was really basing my own opinions on the closest thing I could relate to: the media. The media has sensationalized the view of many foster care adolescents establishing stereotypes amongst the general public. Even news related material that tend to focus more on negative stories related to foster care youth versus positive stories contribute to the overwhelming amount of stereotypes that these youth face daily.

This project has really helped me as an artist in understanding where the ideas that are already in my head came from. I found a problem with my way of thinking, and through researching and addressing the issue appropriately, I corrected my though process. Reading the perspective of current or former foster care youth that have been victims of these stereotypes helped me understand how my previous opinions were unjustifiable. The only thing I achieved by automatically linking bad behaviors with foster care is just another stereotype that affects these teens.

4.22.2009

Confronting Stereotypes About Youth in Foster Care. Part I.

Along with the video I previously posted, I found this video on Youtube.com as well.

Confronting Stereotypes About Youth in Foster Care.

I think this video ties in perfectly with what I am trying to do with this blog: Inform the public about the negative stereotypes that are targeted towards youth in foster care, and demonstrate how these stereotypes affect these youth. This video really is about what kinds of stereotypes have been labeled on kids in foster care and their reactions to the stereotypes. It really shows the perspective of the youth, which is what I am interested in.

The beginning of the video touches on the anxieties that foster care youth have about letting other people know about their situation. The youth talk about how they kept being a foster care child a secret, or how they made up a different life to avoid being judged, and stereotyped, by others.

The video continues by stating an array of stereotypes that people initially associate with foster care. One of the women state that girls in foster care "give it up real easy," and another women states that "she would not want her kids to hang around anyone in foster care." Another stereotype that is mentioned that most foster care kids end up in the prison system, that they are poor students, and that most of them are emotionally damaged.

"This video was produced by Youth In Progress under the sponsorship and funding of the New York State Office of Children and Family Services. It explores the experiences of young adults in the foster care system and provides insight into their struggles to find acceptance and define their own individuality. Produced by SUNY Training Strategies Group (2006)"