If you haven't heard of the show already, "The Fosters" is a drama series on Freeform (formerly known as ABC Family), about a non-traditional family full of biological, adopted, and foster kids raised by an interracial lesbian couple, Steph (Terri Polo), a white police officer, and Lena (Sherri Shaum), half black, half white Principal of Anchor Beach Community Charter School. There's Brandon (played by David Lambert), who’s the biological son of Steph from a previous marriage; Jesus (Jake T Austin, now played by Noah Centineo) and Mariana (Cierra Ramirez), twins adopted by Steph and Lena; Callie (Maia Mitchell) and Jude (Hayden Byerly) brother and sister who have been in and out of foster homes, placed in the Foster's house, and are later adopted by Steph and Lena.
The show talks about issues that are affecting us today such as alcoholism, gender/racial/sexual orientation prejudice, breakups, school shootings, family issues (parents arguing, divorce, not knowing biological parents), bullying, and self-acceptance. What’s great about this show is that they have a non-traditional family and a very diverse one at that! It shows that it’s ok to be a part of a family that breaks the requirements of a traditional family (Mom and Dad).
In Season 2 Mariana dyes her hair blonde in order to fit in with the dance team. Steph complains saying that she should go back to having her brown hair. Lena understands why Mariana changed her hair because she did the same thing when she was her age, straightening her curly hair, adding chemicals to it so it can be straight. But now, she admires her natural hair.
During Season 1 and 2 we see Brandon’s Dad who is an alcoholic and made it hard for Brandon to spend time with him. Jesus and Mariana’s mom was a drug addict and wasn’t in shape to take care of them. When Jesus and Mariana meet their biological mom for the first time, Jesus pays her money to help her out (get a home, groceries, etc.), but instead she spent the money on drugs. But in Season 3 she sobers up, meets Brandon’s Dad Mike and they happen to be dating.
There are quite a few different kinds of prejudice throughout the show gender, racial and sexual orientation. During Season 1 and 2, a girl named Emma decided to try out for the wrestling team at school and everyone on the team looks at her different because she’s a girl playing a guy’s sport. She would often be excluded from hanging out with the team. Jude would paint his nails with blue nail polish and would always get made fun of because of it or Callie yell at him to take it off to prevent him from being bullied. Steph’s dad refused to show up at her wedding because he doesn’t like the fact that she’s lesbian. Jude’s friend Conner, who later turns out to be his boyfriend, has trouble coming out to his dad as gay, and his dad disapproves of it. Lena’s brother Nate comes to town with Lena’s parents. But Lena isn’t pleased because she demands an apology from Nate for calling her the “n-word” years ago. Another thing that happened was that Mariana only made the dance team because she was Latino and the team needed to add some more diversity to the team.
This show is a really great show that promotes diversity, that discusses many different issues that affect society today, and has many different life lessons. If you haven't watched it already, I suggest you give it a watch!
