Navigating the transition from adolescence to adulthood is challenging for even the most mature and privileged youth. For three young people in New York and Los Angeles, making the transition to independent living is considerably more difficult as they “age out” of the foster care system and find themselves suddenly on their own for the first time. Aging Out chronicles the daunting obstacles that these veterans of foster care encounter as they’re forced to fend for themselves.

Daniella juggles her college career with the hard reality of raising her newborn child and paying her bills. David finds himself on a self-destructive drug and crime binge, coping with homelessness and incarceration before moving to Alaska with the hope of becoming a fisherman. Risa attends her high school prom and graduates with several scholarships, but is also battling drug addiction and suffers an emotional breakdown during her freshman year of college.

Although Aging Out presents an intimate and uncensored view of the difficult problems these teenagers face, and also shows these young people using the resiliency they developed during their years in the foster care system to take control of their lives. Ultimately, this emotionally complex documentary is a deeply affecting portrait of the struggles of three young adults to overcome the scars of their troubled childhoods in order to realize their dreams of independence and fulfillment.

Unwittingly capturing her final years, Aging Out went on to become a central part of the criminal trial when Risa was murdered shortly after filming, as chronicled in the follow-up film No Tomorrow.

"Highly Recommended. Aging Out illustrates through real life experiences the daunting obstacles that these young American veterans of the foster care encounter as they are forced to fend for themselves."
‒Laroi Lawton, Bronx Community College of the City University of New York for Educational Media Reviews Online

CINE Gold Eagle, 2004
Bronze Plaque, Columbus International Film & Video Festival, 2004