Lost Childhoods

Lost Childhoods showcases the stories, struggles, and triumphs of transition-age foster youth across California. This exhibition is powerful platform for dialogue and action in Santa Cruz County.

Lost Childhoods is a creative collaboration with the MAH’s C3 group, which includes the Foster Youth Museum, artists, foster youth, and advocates to empower youth to share their often-hidden experiences transitioning out of the foster care system, using art, artifacts and stories to inspire community awareness, social action, and individual engagement.

This exhibition of photographs, artifacts, and commissioned art installations is contextualized in the sweeping change of AB403 and rooted in the voices of transition-age foster youth.

Big questions the exhibition will tackle:

What happens when youth transition out of the foster care system?

What can we do as a community and as individuals to invest in making a difference for foster youth?

What’s the experience of foster care? What does foster care look like?

What does it mean to lose your childhood?

What role can art and storytelling play in social change?

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.