What Will The Story Be?

               When this project truly comes to fruition and becomes a reality it is my sincerest ambition to make a change in the lives of foster children as well as in the lives of the DCF workers. While I do want to reach out to the general populace and inform them of this subject that they know so little about, I know that simply doing that will not invoke real change. Instead I would like to target the legislators and people in the government who decide the budget of the DCF. If they see that not just those involved with the system, but also those outside of it can see the issues and truly want change, they would consider increasing the DCF's funding. Were this to happen, more case workers could be hired which would reduce the stress and improve working conditions, and they in turn could provide more help to more children and provide more support to the parents. With this audience in mind hard facts fall by the wayside compared to stories from those close to the story, this is because those who make the decisions in government have already seen the facts and that has not spurred action, but perhaps a cord could be hit with interviews. By representing the physical, emotional, and psychological damage people in the system endure we could really send a message.
               Recently I made a life-changing presentation, and I learned a few things on reaching an audience. Some people who presented had extremely interesting topics, but they just read out facts and it made it so nobody could care less Instead you need to do as others did and play peoples emotions, pain, sadness, shock, and rage, these emotions grab the audiences interest and really make them care. With this in mind I would start the documentary with stories from foster families/children, hitting the pain/sadness chord of the audience. Then I would do the critical and most impressive statistics to bring about a shock value. I would then buckle down into interviews with professionals talking about the foster system, talking about their experiences and the current issues in the system, making the audience want to change change something. I would finish off with a look at the future and what could be if people take action. While this is a serious documentary, it still needs to be a movie, and like all good movies, the audience has to be engaged, so we do have to edit the information to target them accordingly.
               In terms of why I am doing this, it is simply because of the Laura Sobel story, I heard it on NPR and wanted to learn more. As to why I stuck with it and why it became my topic for this class, it is simply frustration. Frustration with the portrayal of the DCF in the media, frustration with the working conditions of case workers, and frustration at the hardships that foster children and their families have to go through. This is a massive issue that effects the most important people in our society, the children, yet we still spend huge amounts of money on shovels and rakes and implements of destruction (the military, i just had to use that phrase!) and neglect this vital part of society. This is what truly pushed me to do this. It is of the utmost importance that we get our priorities in order and start to take care of what is truly important.