A documentary which celebrates foster youth, showing how school, extended-family and the kindness of strangers can help a child find their path in life.

This film highlights the stories of two young women, Charell and Camilla, who end up in the NYC foster care system as youth but refuse to let their situation define them. Although their paths into foster care are strikingly different, both young women turn to school, friends, and their families- by-choice to create the support systems they need. Tackling issues such as substance abuse, parental incarceration, grief, and loss. Absence/Presence provides an inside look into the impact of the foster care system through the eyes of those who have experienced it first-hand.