Film screening: Be-Longing, a young boy in the foster care system
NAFP present a special Foster Care Fortnight online screening/Q&A of Be-Longing, the story of 9-year old Khoji who lives within a foster family
Khoji has experienced the trauma of living with violent and chaotic birth parents, but is torn between accepting the trust, kindness and security of his foster family and remaining ‘loyal’ to his birth parents, who he still loves dearly.
Self-destruction, despair, anger, trust, betrayal, hope and salvation are all themes within this film. Khoji’s struggle to accept that he is worthy of love and security is not uncommon for many of today’s youth placed in care or living within broken homes.
Be-Longing follows Khoji’s progress as he enters care and embarks on a journey towards regaining belief in himself and adults.
Be-Longing is produced by DrumCamFilms and directed by filmmaker Mike McKenzie. Mike and his wife Carol have been fostering children for over 13 years. Be-Longing has been nominated for and won several awards at a number of prestigious international and UK wide film festivals.
The film uses actors to provide insight in to the real world of foster care. It is intended to widen understanding of the experience of the child in care and promote debate on how we can most effectively provide support.
After the screening, and to mark Foster Care Fortnight, there will be a Q&A with Mike and our special guest, Sean Parry, a foster care recruitment specialist with experience of care.
