Title
Presented
Story
At age 21, Shirley Diaz is on the brink of aging out of the foster care system. Her life isn’t easy now, and soon she’ll be on her own, facing a new set of daunting issues.
Diaz describes her efforts to create a bright future for herself as she tries to make sense of her impending adulthood.
Growing Up in the System won the Best Documentary: Silver Award in the 2008 Third Coast / Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Competition. The story was edited by Marianne McCune, with help from Kaari Pitkin and Sanda Htyte.
Producer
Shirley Diaz joined the Radio Rookies program in August 2007 and spent the next seven months producing her story about growing up in New York’s foster care system. She works full-time in a downtown law firm, a job she got after a listener at the firm heard her story on the radio. Diaz loves to write music and sing; her dream is to be an entertainer.
Melissa Allison has worked as an independent producer and as an associate producer with The Kitchen Sisters, Homelands Productions, and WNYC's Radio Rookies. She has produced pieces for NPR, Third Coast Festival, and the Holocaust Memorial Museum, and reported for the BBC World Service. Prior to radio, Allison worked as a newspaper reporter in London and New York City.
Extra
Learn more about the WNYC's Radio Rookies.
Hear more audio work from Melissa Allison