It’s not often that a television show goes beyond simple entertainment to introduce important topics to its viewers. The Fosters, a television drama on Freeform (previously known as ABC Family), is just that show. While still being one of the most interesting shows that I’ve ever watched, The Fosters is also a great show that has amazing characters and incorporates many important issues in today’s society into the script. It’s important for viewers of all ages to see what this show has to offer.
Plot
The Fosters pilot episode is centered around Callie Jacob (Maia Mitchell), a teenage girl in the foster care system who has just been released from her stay in a juvenile detention center in San Diego, California. Callie is in need of a foster home and her social worker convinces Lena Adams (Sherri Saum) to take Callie in on short notice. Lena is hesitant at first, but when she sees Callie, a girl obviously broken down with nowhere to go, she agrees to take her in.
Callie gets introduced to an already full house. Lena lives with her partner Stef Foster (Teri Polo), a police officer. Also living in the home is Stef’s biological son, 16-year-old Brandon (David Lambert), from her previous marriage to Mike (Danny Nucci). Along with Brandon, there are the twins Jesus (Jake T. Austin, recast as: Noah Centineo) and Marianna (Cierra Ramirez), who were originally foster children but were adopted by Stef and Lena when they were five-years-old.
Callie is enrolled at Anchor Beach, where her foster siblings go to school and where Lena is the vice-principal. However, her first day she leaves school early to go see her younger brother, Jude (Hayden Byerly), who is stuck in an abusive foster home, and Brandon follows her. Stef finds them just as they are confronting Jude’s foster father as he is pointing a gun at them, and he is arrested. Now Jude has nowhere to live, and Lena and Stef agree to take him in, even though they already have four teenagers living under their roof.
The Whole Family
Thus begins one of the best television shows currently on the air. With so many unique characters with their own backgrounds, struggles, and fascinating story lines, The Fosters doesn’t ever get boring. The plot twists and cliffhangers at the end of the episodes are always intense, and it keeps you on the edge of your seat every time you watch.
However, as previously mentioned, even though this show is interesting, entertaining, and dramatic, the plot also brings in many issues that are critical in today’s society. These issues might not be talked about enough in our society, or even at all. The Fosters serves as a gateway into these conversations.
The Foster Care System in the U.S.
One of these important issues is the United State’s current foster care system and how it’s failing the children in it. Callie and Jude spent many years in the foster care system after the death of their mother and the incarceration of their father. They were constantly being bounced around different homes and switching schools to the point that Jude has fallen behind in school and Callie has to make up some of the credits that never transferred. Also, they were in abusive foster homes, where they didn’t have anybody who really cared about them or listened to them. Many other foster children in the show are depicted as having the same feeling of failure from the foster care system.
By coming to live with the Foster-Adams family, Callie and Jude finally find a home that is safe and welcoming. This show stresses the lack of proper foster homes for children in the foster care system and the way that the system can really leave some children in awful situations. Even more importantly, it shows the lack of control that children have over their owns lives. Sure Callie and Jude find their happy ending with Lena and Stef, but what about their lives up until this point? What about all of the other children who are being left behind in the foster care system?
This point is reinforced further when Callie spends some time in a group home for girls, Girls United. This home is filled with teenagers right out of juvie that are too “at risk” to be put into other foster homes.
Girls United
Girls United shows the inner working of a group home, and how it can be a very scary place for foster children who have to be in them. However, it also shows the way that children in the system stick together for support and the way that adults who care about the children can be supportive and act as positive influences in their lives.
The foster care system is something that I never hear anybody talking about. It’s not a big political issue. It’s something that exists, but for the majority of people, if you don’t have to live with it, it’s not ever something that you think hard about. The Fosters can help educate others about the foster care system and bring it to the forefront of people’s thoughts and discussions.
LGBTQ Friendly
The Fosters also has really powerful messages about homosexuality in our culture today, and it shows the trials and tribulations that being gay can bring. Stef struggled with her sexuality while growing up because of her religious father who did not support her sexuality. The Fosters shows how she comes to terms with her own sexuality and who she is, and how she stands up for her family against her homophobic father.
The Fosters shows a very positive lesbian relationship between Lena and Stef. Although they have their rough patches, as all couples do, it’s really important for young viewers to see such a positive relationship between two very loving, caring women. There aren’t many lesbian characters on television, and Stef and Lena serve as a positive representation of strong lesbian partners and mothers.
Jude also serves as a really important character in The Fosters who paints a positive message about being different from the norm. Jude is bullied at school for painting his nails and Callie admonishes him for doing it and forbids him from it. However, Lena gives a powerful speech about accepting himself as he is. She tells him, however, that even though she loves him for who he is, other people may not and that’s their problem, not his. Anybody who’s been an outcast needs to hear that there are people who will support him or her no matter what, even if society tells him or her that there’s something wrong with what they’re doing and who they are.
Jude is also a young teen who’s struggling to identify his sexuality. Jude develops a love interest during the show, but the other boy’s homophobic father spoils it. Lena and Stef do an excellent job navigating the issues that arise from the homophobic father and making it clear they will accept Jude and his relationship no matter what. To younger viewers, seeing this relationship in action is so important because those struggling with their own sexuality as a young teenager can be very confused. Having a character like Jude to look up to, along with Lena and Stef, could make a real positive impact on their life. It can show them that though sometimes the world is cruel, there are people out there who will support them and empathize with them.
Jude isn’t the only person on the show that deals with issues of acceptance. Lena, as a half-black woman, is also at odds with her own identity. She never felt like she fit in with the black community, but also experienced racism from others, including her white stepbrother when he called Lena’s mother a racial slur. Lena stood up to her stepbrother’s racism, which created tension with her mother, who did not want Lena to stand up for her. This storyline serves as a really great talking point for viewers about racism, identity, and learning to love yourself.
The Fosters also covers trans issues, specifically in the foster care system. One of the people living in Girls United that Callie befriends is Cole (Tom Phelan), a trans man. Cole ended up in the foster care system after his parents couldn’t come to terms with him being trans and kicked him out. Cole has trouble fitting in with the girls in Girls United, including one girl refusing to call him by the correct pronouns and saying rude things about him being trans.
Cole
Cole wants to be transferred to a trans-friendly group home, but it takes awhile for him to find an opening in one. He also is not taking any hormones to help him fully make his transition and feel like himself. Cole goes so far as to get such hormones off of the streets.
Cole’s character highlights the shortcomings that the foster care system has when dealing with trans youth. However, it also shows a group home leader who accepts Cole for being trans and tries to promote this same tolerance with the girls in the home. Trans youth are fighting for respect everyday in society, so having a character like Cole on The Fosters is a great way to bring that issue to the front of people’s minds.
Family
One of the biggest messages of The Fosters is: blood doesn’t make a family—love does! The Fosters-Adams family is a family that isn’t blood related, but instead is built on love for one another. Lena and Stef always make sure that their children know that they are loved and cared for. To me, this is an extremely important lesson: just because a family isn’t related by blood, doesn’t make the unit any less important or real. Love, respect, and care are what makes a family real.
I could go on about the important things that The Fosters covers. Some other topics include drug and alcohol addiction, racism, identity, rape, inappropriate sexual relationships, dating between foster siblings, low self-esteem, miscarriages, bullying, the education system, mental illness, adultery, invitro fertilization, and so much more. The Fosters is about all of these important topics that need to be talked about. It shows people dealing with and overcoming these real life problems.
On top of all of these issues, The Fosters is a show about high schoolers and how they attempt to navigate their teenage life. It shows the problems they have in relationships with their peers and family members, and how they overcome their issues with love and the support of their families. Their stories are ones that all people can relate to, and all of the characters serve as great role models for viewers, even when they make mistakes.
The Fosters season four airs on January 25th, 2016, on Freeform, and I’m excited to see what happens next! I strongly encourage you to check the show out on Netflix, and maybe binge watch the first three seasons. A show as riveting and significant as The Fosters is not one that should be ignored!