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With smiles and tears, adult adoption makes former foster child and caseworker a family

BRADENTON – Leah Paskalides was fairly new as an adoption caseworker for the Safe Children Coalition when she met Monyay – the 19-year-old woman she now calls daughter.

Monyay Faith Paskalides, left, hugs her mom Leah Paskalides, and smiles for friends with cellphone cameras, shortly after an April 27 Zoom adoption ceremony that legally made them mother and daughter.

“When I started in adoptions in 2015, she was one of my first cases and at first she did not like me,” Leah said, shortly after the roughly six-minute April 27 adoption hearing, held via Zoom with 12th Judicial Circuit Judge Teresa Dees presiding, in which Monyay Faith Randall officially became Monyay Faith Paskalides.

The ceremony, which made national television news, was a mixture of giggles and laughter – including when Monyay spelled out her new last name – as well as hugs and tears.

Tears of joy, as Monyay had what she called closure.

“To me, this is something I always wanted, I wanted closure,” Monyay said. “When I was in foster care, I regretted not being adopted.

“Now, here’s my chance, I didn’t want to miss out this time,” she added. “Like I tell most kids in care: Don’t give up hope – I did spend six years in care, it’s never too late, I’m grown but I’m still being adopted.”

Earle Kimel

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

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Alexia Nechayev

FYS Events & Meeting Chair
(Palm Beach/Miami)

Alexia Nechayev, from Miami, Florida, is a dedicated advocate for youth with lived experience in foster care and with homelessness. After being placed in foster care as a teenager, Alexia experienced firsthand the stigma surrounding the system, as well as the challenges of navigating a system that didn’t provide support for her to advocate for herself. This experience motivated her to create change, ensuring that other youth in care have the tools and resources she lacked.

She graduated with a B.A. in Psychology from Florida International University, and upon graduation worked as a Hope Navigator with the Department of Children and Families which allowed her to assist clients through individualized care plans, further deepening her commitment to improving the lives of marginalized youth. Alexia is now applying to law schools with the goal of advancing her advocacy work through a legal career. As the Events and Meetings Chair for Florida Youth SHINE (FYS), she creates opportunities for foster and homeless youth to collaborate and push for meaningful change. She is also an active member of the Policy and Initiative Team for Florida Youth SHINE, where she helps create and shape policies that directly impact youth in foster care. One of her proudest accomplishments is helping to develop the Foster Care Bill of Rights, a law that she feels would have made a difference during her own time in care.

In addition to her work with FYS, Alexia serves on the Board of Directors for the parent organization of FYS, Florida’s Children First. In this role, she contributes to strategic decision-making while advocating for the rights and welfare of children statewide.

Every year, she travels to the state capitol to advocate for bills she and her peers have helped shape, including key pieces of legislation that benefit foster and homeless youth. However her advocacy extends beyond her state, as she represents Florida Youth SHINE at national conferences such as the National Leaders 4 Change Conference.

Through her internship with the National Foster Youth Institute, Alexia continues to refine her advocacy skills, preparing for a future where she can contribute meaningfully to both policymaking and the legal system. Guided by the belief that “the blue sky is always there,” she remains committed to ensuring that every youth in foster care has the power and support to advocate for themselves.

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