Good for You: Miracle Thomas

October 24, 2018

Former C.C.Kids youth worker Miracle Thomas was recognized October 17 as Outstanding Youth Advocate during the 2018 Palm Beach Child Advocacy Awards Reception.

The 23-year-old has been a member of the Treasure Coast Chapter of Florida Youth SHINE for five years, serving as Treasure Coast chapter president for the past three. Youth SHINE is a statewide organization that teaches youth in foster care to advocate for change in the foster-care system.

Thomas attends Indian River State College and dreams of studying holistic medicine to help people, like her sister, who have developmental disabilities.

Her journey has not been easy. Miracle was born into foster care to an incarcerated mother. She moved from home to home, eventually settling with an abusive relative. At age 16, she came back to foster care but was separated from her siblings - an event that severely impacted Thomas.

She credits her faith for helping her to succeed and said she believes things happen for a reason.

Adversity, she said, is a challenge and a motivator.

At age 18, Miracle was introduced to Youth SHINE by her C.C.Kids Road to Success mentor Margie Dotson. She credits that first meeting with helping her to find her voice and to be her own advocate.

Now, Miracle speaks at foster-parent meetings and trainings and with other professionals in the child-welfare community. She has advocated for change to Florida's dependency system, traveling often to Tallahassee to meet with legislators, and speaking regularly at child-welfare summits. Recently, she was a guest on NPR's 411 Teen.

"She is an amazing young woman," said C.C.Kids Community Relations Director Christina Kaiser, who worked with Thomas on a local radio show about the foster care and other child-welfare topics. "She's determined to give a voice to the voiceless and to make a better future for all children."

Pictured above is Thomas, flanked to the left by Road to Success Supervisor Chris Martinez and to the right by one of the program's specialists, Derrick Fennell.