Kevin Clark was in foster care beginning at the age of four. When he turned 16 his biological mother took him out of the stable foster home he was in and took him home to live with her. A drug addict herself, she completely enabled Kevin’s use of drugs. Kevin became lost in his addictions, but eventually emerged. Now, at 25 years old, he is clean and sober.
Participating with other former foster youth to help educate people and train foster care givers, Kevin and his group, with the help of Jamie Evans (foster care museum founder), have created a traveling museum. The foster care museum includes photographs and images that depict the life of a foster child. The images include artist depictions of incarceration, medication and substance abuse, and more.
The exhibit also includes actual items that former foster children have shared in the hopes of opening the public’s eyes to what life is like “in the system.” Some of these items include a homemade sanitary pad, made by a foster girl because her foster family would not provide what she needed, as well as other items depicting “lost childhood.”
It is eye-opening and tragic. But just around the corner is the section on transformation and hope. The items in that section depict all the good that loving foster families provide.
The full story on this foster care museum may be read here.
