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One African American Family’s Struggle With the Mental Health Care System

WAITING FOR TEARAH,” a film directed by FIJ grantee Juliana Schatz is an intimate portrait of a mother struggling to find mental health care for her child. Shot over two years, this vérité film tells the story of Shayna, a single parent of three girls on the brink of losing her home due to medical costs, while her eldest daughter, Tearah, waits for months in a psychiatric hospital. Day after day, Shayna navigates a complicated maze of government agencies as she fights for much-needed treatment for Tearah.

The film was broadcast by Frontline and featured in the Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival & Symposium 2019 in Washington, D.C.

Photo: Frontline