Karlos Dillard (@WardoftheState)

Karlos Dillard is a published author and Social Media Foster Care Advocate. Karlos is a Transracial Adoptee who was adopted from the Michigan State foster care system at the age of 9. He has a social media platform that is focused on providing accessible, diverse, and ethical adoption and foster care education. Formerly, Karlos was a commercial actor working for companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Mercedes Benz, and many more.Karlos has led training for foster families and adoption agencies on transracial adoption, adoption trauma, and financial literacy for foster youth. He has partnered with organizations like TreeHouse for Kids in Seattle, Wa using his large social media platform to fundraise over $10,000 worth of toiletries, backpacks, and suitcases for foster youth. Karlos was also the Keynote Speaker for Treehouse for Kids' annual Champions Luncheon 2022. He is a frequent speaker in many different settings, including colleges, adoption agencies, and conferences, his latest being the Keynote Speaker for Deleware State DSCYF Destined for Greatness annual graduation ceremony.Karlos has used his story of being a foster youth and an adoptee growing up in a white world to curate deep conversations about race in America. With his unique insight on racial tensions between the white and Black communities, he has been able to curate impactful conversations online and off where everyone learns to value each other and their experience, while learning about systemic racism, privilege, and their role in it.Karlos wrote an engaging memoir, Wards of the State: A Memoir of Foster Care, which is about his lived experience in the Michigan State foster care system, surviving more than 30 placements. He is a phenomenal speaker and always shines a light on the dark truths of the foster care and adoption systems.

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