Schultz Family Foundation

Lacee Morgan is passionate about advocating for young people in the foster care system and for those who are experiencing homelessness, because for this 25-year-old single mom, it’s very personal.

“I advocate for young people because they need a voice. They need to be heard. They need to be listened to and not only that, they need to have action,” Lacee said. For so long, Lacee was one of those young people.

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Lacee was raised in North Seattle. When she was 16, her mother died - a tragedy that set in motion years of hardship and trauma. Lacee navigated loss, foster care, homelessness, and the penal system with little family support. She also gave birth to a son who was removed from her care at the age of two. Lacee struggled with mental health issues and addiction and says she was convinced she was going to die on the streets. During this time, she recalls feeling overpowered by the decisions of others. At eighteen, she hit a turning point after discovering she was pregnant during a short stint in jail.

After her release, Lacee was determined to transform her life so she enrolled at Willy Stewart Academy to get her high school diploma. Then, in 2022, she was introduced to The Mockingbird Society through McKinney Vento, a public-school program that serves young people experiencing homelessness. With this newfound community, Lacee was provided with a space where, she says, she felt recognized, loved, and heard. Advocacy is now her passion.

The Mockingbird Society is an advocacy organization founded in 2000 to provide meaningful opportunities for young people across Washington state to participate in social justice efforts to transform the foster care system and end youth and young adult homelessness. The organizational vision states that each person, regardless of race and individual experience, reaches adulthood with an equitable opportunity to thrive.

In less than a year, Lacee advanced to become Mockingbird’s chapter leader for King County.   “She is a phenomenal leader, says El Berendts, Mockingbird’s Regional Engagement Coordinator for King County. “The other chapter members look up to her so much.”

Lacee now sees the opportunities to change the narrative and the system and ensure that other young people avoid the hardships she endured. Lacee and her fellow Mockingbird Society advocates recognize state funding is critical to expanding the current Extended Foster Care (EFC) program which helps support young people who are dependents of the state when they turn 18. She is also working toward her associates degree in Social Work at Lake Washington Institute of Technology.

Life is good for Lacee and her daughter Leyloni – and she is pregnant with her third child. December 2022 was a special anniversary for her. It marked four years in stable housing.

“I want to give hope to people that have been in my situation that there is a future, even though it’s hard to see right now” she said.

Much like Lacee, The Mockingbird Society helped Bunni Garcia-Owens find confidence. Bunni, who is now stably housed, spent their childhood and preteens in and out of shelters. Their first time speaking at Youth Advocacy Day, a chance for young people to speak directly to elected leaders voicing support for youth and young adult-inspired solutions, was an act of bravery and their brightest moment.

“Each time that you speak, you’re making an impact on this world” they said.

Bunni is the Network Representative intern with The Mockingbird Society, working on The Mockingbird Times and doing outreach to various regions. They became involved with The Mockingbird Society two years ago.

Bunni wants people to know that “everyone has such unique and individual experiences, and those experiences are important and valuable, and your voice is powerful...”

Over the last 20 years, the Mockingbird Society’s youth and young adult-informed and created policies have impacted over 100,000 young people and have prompted more than $252 million in state investment into services and support for young people experiencing foster care or homelessness.

Last year, the Mockingbird Society’s advocates, alongside their allies, prompted the Washington legislature to pass an historic budget with $23 million allocated to preventing and addressing young adult homelessness. MOCKINGBIRDFAMILY™, an innovative foster care approach that creates an extended family-like support network has grown its agency partnership presence to reach nearly 1,000 foster families both domestically and internationally.

In 2023,the Mockingbird Society intends to focus its efforts on expanding the EFC program, protecting juvenile records, financial capability for young people in foster care, providing access to Student to Adult Readiness Training (START)and improving young adult access to shelters.

Learn more about the Mockingbird Society.