From Personal Experience to Policy: Alumna Creates Legislative Change for Youths Experiencing Foster Care
Young alumni Tierra Lamore (BSW 2024) testified before the House Career and Workforce Subcommittee earlier in the 2025 Florida Legislative Session in support of HB879, which would ensure that young adults who experience homelessness or who had experienced foster care be given priority for housing on college campuses.
In and out of the foster care system between the ages of 6 and 15, followed by an experience of homelessness in college, Tierra knows first-hand the hardships of those who struggle to gain their footing after leaving the child welfare system. “The challenges that follow you after leaving the system are relentless. I’m tired of seeing good people – people I love and cherish – without support. I want to do everything I can to be a part of the change,” she stated.
“I think my testimony had a really positive impact,” she shared. “Hearing the committee members say I inspired them and my peers meant everything. After a childhood filled with silence, it felt healing to finally be seen and heard and to watch my voice contribute to something that could help those coming after me.”
The bill won bipartisan support with a 16-0 vote, passing its first step to becoming legislation. If passed, the bill would require Florida colleges and universities to develop a system for assigning students 28 years old or younger to housing or work-study programs, prioritizing students who have aged out of foster care.
Despite the seemingly insurmountable hurdles she encountered early in life, Tierra found the support she needed through Florida Youth SHINE, a youth-run, peer-driven organization for young adults currently or formerly in foster care or who have experienced homelessness. “I found a place to transform my anger into passion,” she explained. “They have been my family ever since. I found my voice and haven’t really kept quiet since.”
Testifying for HB879 was also not her first time lobbying for support for youths in the foster care system, lobbying for several bills to support children involved with the child welfare system while completing her associate’s degree at Palm Beach State College.
Tierra is currently the statewide legislative chair for Florida Youth SHINE and the president of the Tallahassee Chapter. She is also interning through them with the Department of Children and Family’s Steps to Success Program, a 1-year career-focused program for young adults aged 18-25 with experience in the foster care system to be placed in fields they are interested in. “We are actually the inaugural class, and Florida Youth SHINE helped create this program, so it really is a full circle moment!”
This internship represents one of the many experiences Tierra has delved into since becoming a social work student at Florida State University, working with the Kearney Center, Boystown and at Florida State with the Office of Withdrawal Services.
She credits most of these experiences to her time at the FSU College of Social Work. “I always say you don’t find social work – social work finds you,” Tierra enthused. “Choosing this major was empowering and healing for me.”
Tierra added: “It gave me the chance to understand the child welfare system from the outside, to answer a lot of ‘whys’ and ‘whats’ that had lingered. I also love the warm, empathetic student body and professors. I’ve made some amazing connections through the College of Social Work – ones I hope will last forever.”
As she contemplates her next steps, her sights remain on her continued growth and empowerment and how to best pay that forward. “I have been focused on getting to know and love myself more and that has been super transformative. There are so many options, but whatever I choose, I want to be contributing to the alleviation of human suffering.”
