Advocacy

Standardize Life Skills Selfless Love Foundation’s One Voice Impact youth leaders are vocal about the need for Florida to improve how it delivers life skills training courses to youth in foster care. These youth have experienced the challenges of accessing these

“Foster care is an imperfect solution to an impossible problem.” Those words from Lived Experience Expert, Gaelin Elmore, resonated with me as I attended the 2022 Texas Child Care Administrators Conference. Gaelin spoke about the importance of building a sense

Youth involved in the foster care system need to have both a voice and a choice. Afterall, what is the point of using your voice if you don’t have any choices? Youth with lived experience who attended the Florida Coalition

Growing up in care, I was not confident. One of the struggles of growing up in care, especially after experiencing abuse, is being happy with who you are and trusting yourself to know what you need for yourself.   I remember

Youth and young adults in foster care are more than just what they’ve experienced in child welfare. Their voices matter and should be heard. I had the opportunity to speak in front of legislators to advocate for the passing of

My experience with child welfare is short since it just recently started. I entered the world of foster care at 16, in July of 2020. My family members took me in as their foster child. I was also assigned a

I’ve been in and out of foster care my whole life – from toddler to young adult. There have been times where I used my voice and other times where I did not, but should have.  I personally never realized how

When people talk about youth voice, they often miss an essential part of the story. We must take small, daily steps in the right direction and not let challenges tear us down. Youth voice is about being part of the

At the age of 16, before I even had a grasp of what advocacy meant, there was something that continued to weigh heavy on my heart. It would be the first question I asked to all who were around me;