{"id":105188,"date":"2019-12-10T14:44:40","date_gmt":"2019-12-10T19:44:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=105188"},"modified":"2019-12-12T14:49:50","modified_gmt":"2019-12-12T19:49:50","slug":"overcoming-an-uncertain-childhood-graduate-paints-to-explain-the-past","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/overcoming-an-uncertain-childhood-graduate-paints-to-explain-the-past\/","title":{"rendered":"Overcoming an Uncertain Childhood, Graduate Paints to Explain the Past"},"content":{"rendered":"

Titus Thomas was 8 when he entered the foster care system, the result of abuse and neglect by parents whose parental rights were later terminated. By 16 when he was adopted, he had lived with eight foster families in seven states, a complicated and stressful situation that often is hard to overcome.<\/p>\n

But this week the 24-year-old will graduate from UCF with a Bachelor of Fine Arts<\/a> as a member of the Tau Sigma National Honor Society \u2013 a huge accomplishment considering that foster care workers say only about 3 percent of young people coming out of foster homes graduate from a four-year college.<\/p>\n

\u201cI moved from city to city as a child because my parents moved every time a state started to investigate for child abuse,\u201d says Thomas, whose artwork was recently featured in an exhibit at the UCF Art Gallery<\/a>. \u201cI don\u2019t know too much about my biological family, which is the sad truth for most children in foster care.\u201d<\/p>\n

The three paintings on display at the gallery exhibit were part of a very personal project: his life of isolation before entering into the foster care system.<\/p>\n