Evynne Hollens Joined Nadia Khristean to Create a Music Video for Foster Children

by Summer Austin

This article is also featured on MormonMusic.org.

Nadia Khristean, an LDS singer/songwriter who makes music videos to advocate for causes, decided to focus her latest video on the plight of foster care children. She collaborated with YouTuber Evynne Hollens to sing a cover of “Rockabye” by Clean Bandit and apply its message to foster care children everywhere. Their video has a dual purpose: to send a message of hope and encouragement to foster care children, and to spread awareness about the current foster care problem so that more people can get involved.

On Nadia’s Facebook page, she, Evynne, and a foster teen named Aidree explain in a video why they felt it was so important to create a music video especially for foster children:

The music video depicts the life of Aidree and her siblings as they go through foster care, showing how simple friendships and acts of kindness can make a huge difference in the life of a foster care child. Aidree describes her story, “From the beginning of my life, it hasn’t been the easiest. My parents divorced when I was little … a lot of family conflict. My parents have been to jail. I went through a phase—I didn’t talk to anyone. I didn’t want to tell anyone about my past, or about my parents.”

Nadia explains, “Aidree is such a courageous girl for sharing her story and to utilize this story in order to send a message that needs to be heard by other children that are inside … a very similar circumstance.”

Aidree continues, “We started getting on the right track after a while, and then things went downhill, and eventually we found ourselves in foster care, switching homes. … Just because our parents maybe did something wrong, that doesn’t mean that … we’re bad kids. We can be just as great as anyone that’s never been through this.” She goes on to encourage other foster children who may be struggling, “You’re not ever fully alone. There’s always someone out there that is … going through something similar.”

Lizzy Palmatier, The Court Appointed Special Advocate for Children in Foster Care, explains, “One of the biggest myths about foster care is that it’s an extension of juvenile hall, and that’s not the case at all. … When you think about a twelve-month-old girl who is literally forgotten for days at a time because her parents are strung on meth, that is the kind of kid that is put into foster care for their own protection. … One of my main goals is to get other people involved as well because that is one of the main problems with foster care right now …. there [are] not enough volunteers, there [are] not enough foster parents. When they are put into foster care, they need to come to a loving home. In order to do that, we need more foster parents.”

Evynne Hollens adds, “Did you know that eighty-six percent of children that are involved in sex trafficking have been in a foster home at one point? It’s unfortunate that children in foster care often get a bad rap when it’s usually not their choice to be there in the first place, and these foster children deserve all the support they can get. … Join us in the fight to provide a safe place for these kids, and give them the support they need in our community.”

Nadia encourages people to get involved, even if they aren’t able to be foster parents. “Sometimes we feel like there’s nothing we can do. Sometimes we think, ‘Well, I can’t be a foster parent right now,’ or, ‘I don’t have the resources right now,’ but what anybody can do is be a friend to a foster child. … We hope to bring a message of hope to children in foster care … especially the message that they are not defined by their past.”