Field Center Fall 2025 Community Symposium

Featured Speaker: L. Patty Flores, MSW, ASW

With over a decade of advocacy for youth in foster care, L. Patty Flores speaks from the heart – and from lived experience. A former foster youth, immigrant, queer woman, and survivor of homelessness and juvenile incarceration, Patty brings a rare and urgent clarity to the conversation.

She is a bold, intersectional voice challenging systemic injustice and confronting the epistemic injustice that often sidelines lived expertise -particularly in child welfare abolitionist spaces. Patty insists that those most impacted must be heard, not erased.

Her talks – delivered across Los Angeles and internationally – ignite hearts and minds, from courtrooms to classrooms. Whether speaking to judges, probation officers, educators, or social workers, Patty uses her story to inspire justice, connection, and transformation.

Don’t miss this dynamic speaker whose lived truth is reshaping the future!