These LA foster kids defied the odds when they aged out: 'This isn't the end of my story'

Alex Ballantyne thought he'd finally found some stability after spending much of his adolescence searching for a home where he felt safe and accepted.

Then, shortly after he collected his high school diploma, his longtime foster family in the Santa Clarita Valley kicked him out.

He found himself homeless, aging out of the Los Angeles County foster care system — which cuts off many services at 18 — and unsure where to turn.

"It was rough, and I guess it still is," Ballantyne says in an intimate new documentary that follows two Los Angeles teens in foster care from age 14 to 20. "Possible Selves," directed by Shaun Kadlec, will make its streaming debut this month on PBS SoCal Plus.

Ballantyne's struggle to get back on his feet after high school is one of the most heartbreaking moments in a film that provides a rare, insider's perspective on the challenges facing foster youth — including childhood trauma, looming insecurity, parents struggling with addiction and the stigma attached to the foster system, all of which are addressed with an unfiltered openness that only teens could achieve.

But even at the point when his future seemed unsure, Ballantyne was insistent: "This isn't the end of my story."

And it wasn't.

Now, almost four years after the cameras stopped rolling, Ballantyne is promoting the film and sparking discussions about foster care, all while pursuing his associate's degree from Pasadena City College. His goals have changed a bit from his teen years — when he wanted to be a professional musician — and become more ambitious: The 24-year-old plans to get his bachelor's degree in business, hopefully at UC Berkeley, then get a law degree to work in public policy.

Achieving this would defy the odds for former foster youth, who statistically have some of the lowest outcomes when it comes to finishing high school, pursuing a degree and graduating college.

Ballantyne's aspiration for "Possible Selves" is more modest: He hopes people come away with a better understanding of foster care and the wraparound services these youth need.

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