Almost Home Documentary | Foster Care & Drug Addiction to Victory |

I am finally ready to tell my story, well most of it. There is plenty more to say in regards of my experience of being in foster care and having a mother who was a drug addict, which caused my sister and I to be a ward of the state. The traumatic experience that we faced is only scratched on the surface with this documentary. After enduring so much pain for so long, I was so afraid of speaking my truth because of the amount of consideration I had for others, even when they didn't deserve it.

I have been working on this for three years and kept delaying it due to revisiting certain memories that I have locked away for years. Trauma as a child is never fun to talk about, nor is it easy. This is my first major project that I produced, filmed and edited and I want my message to be very clear that no matter what type of life we were given, we have the strength and ability to still be the very best version of ourselves. When you finally discover your purpose of existence outside of the negativity that others told you about yourself, our voices can combat so much bs and give others hope by showing that it is possible to make it out of the shadows of trauma.

"Almost Home" is exactly the feeling I had for 4 years while in foster care, because every 6 months, our social worker made false promises to my sister and I that we will be back with our family. It was gut wrenching to be let down with broken promises. I carried that feeling well after we got out of DSS because it took a long time to trust that we wouldn't go back in the system's clutches of what felt like hell again. It felt like a prison sentence just because my mother was a drug addict with no resources to help her, instead, she was punished as well for being sick, so, her children were taken from her instead. I didn't feel at home in a sense until I was 18, when I knew that I wouldn't be back in foster care. My mother is doing much better now, still some struggles but I'm happy of the progression she has made since 20 years ago.

For anyone who is currently in foster care and watching this video, please know that it will get better. It is hard now, but trust you and you only to fight through this storm of pain and confusion. Use your voice, seek out to others who understands your pain the most. Make a Youtube channel and talk about your story, the world needs to hear it. Thank you for watching!

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