Through Our Lens: Youth Voices on AB 12
Empowering Foster Care Youth Through Lived Experience and Participatory Storytelling
Seeing Change Through Youth Eyes
Every year, thousands of transition-age youth (TAY) across California face the abrupt end of foster care services at age 18, often without the safety nets many young adults rely on. AB 12 changed that trajectory, but real transformation doesn't come from policy alone—it comes from voice. That's where Through Our Lens, a powerful interactive exhibit, steps in.
Designed to amplify the lived experiences of youth in California's foster care system, this project uses experiential learning and interactive storytelling to illuminate the realities, hopes, and challenges of those navigating life under AB 12.
Through Our Lens transforms personal narratives into catalysts for change. These aren't just stories; they are data, testimony, and advocacy woven together. The exhibit offers an unfiltered view of what extended foster care truly looks like on the ground, with the goal of helping shape a more responsive, trauma-informed system of care.
Seeing Change Through Youth-Centered Lenses
Through Our Lens is rooted in community-based participatory research (CBPR) and empowers transition-age youth to document their realities through mixed media and personal narratives. This approach shifts the power of storytelling from external observers to the individuals living the experience, fostering authentic dialogue around issues central to their lives, including housing instability, access to education, and mental health.
Participants are guided through the process of capturing images and creating mixed-media pieces that reflect their daily experiences. These visual stories serve as both data and advocacy tools, informing community forums, policy briefings, and local exhibitions across counties throughout California. This method not only validates lived experience but also influences program design, service delivery, and broader social reform.
For organizations working with transition-age youth, this approach can:
- Build trust through creative expression
- Identify systemic gaps through first-person insight
- Strengthen youth leadership and civic engagement
- Inform trauma-informed practices through real-world context
At its core, Through Our Lens reminds us that the people most affected by systems often hold the clearest vision for improving them. When youth are given opportunities to share their stories on their own terms, they become more than participants in change—they become its architects.
If this sounds like something your agency would be interested in exploring, I would love to connect and start a conversation.
