“You actually get to see [the kids] face to face, get the mannerisms, the voice. The hope is it allows people to connect on a human level with these children.”
Emmy Award winner and adoptee, Tyler Hays, shares about his observations and experiences on the set of I Belong Project video shoots as a volunteer for Tennessee Kids Belong. The I Belong Project elevates and empowers kids in foster care (who are eligible for adoption) to share who they are and what they desire in a family. As Tyler says, the I Belong Project brings a sensitivity to the heavy places many of these kids have come from while focusing on “the core of who they are as kids.”
I’m actually adopted and so it was really a heart desire of mine to align myself with somebody doing something with adoptive families.
They’re all coming from a different place and potentially a really heavy place. I think there is a sensitivity to that and not pressing into that too much, but focusing on the core of who they are as kids. The things they enjoy as kids. The things they dream about. The things they aspire to. You try to get a little bit of their personality to show through.