LAKELAND, Fla. — Award-winning actress Lyric Ross was in Lakeland to encourage adults to become foster parents of teens.

• This is Us actress Lyric Ross speaker at 'One More Child' event
• Ross wants to encourage adults to be foster parents to teens
• One More Child says it's helped 249,000 children, individuals in 2018

Ross plays “Deja,” a foster daughter, in the hit television series This Is Us. She spoke and signed autographs at the One More Child event.

Ross, 15, and a Chicago native, said she had to chop off her hair when she took on the role.

“That was definitely hard. They actually told me I needed to be willing to do it before I flew out to (Los Angeles) for the callback,” said Ross.

It was her first step in understanding her role and a slight taste of what foster children endure when they suddenly lose everything important to them.

She delivered a short speech to the crowd.

“Teens being removed from their homes. They’re waiting for someone like you to love and advocate for them as they cope with losing what is most valuable to them,” said Lyric Ross.

Corey Maddo, 26, a former foster child, was in the crowd. He spent his teenage years in a facility in Tampa with 22 other teens, living in dorms. Looking back at the experience, he described it as “terrible.”

“The staff (doesn’t) care about you. There were multiple issues. Kids always fighting. Staff breaking them up after,” recalled Corey Maddo.

When he aged out of the system, he eventually learned about the organization, One More Child, and was adopted by its Foster Care Director Colleen Riddle.

One More Child, formerly known as Florida Baptist Children’s Homes, trains foster parents, provides adoption resources, and also supports struggling families and single moms.

According to its pamphlets, it helped 249,000 children and individuals through its programs in 2018.

Riddle said the need is great for more people to become foster parents.

“Of the 16 to 18,000 children who come into care in the state of Florida, the number one need is for teen homes. The majority of our teens are in group homes, which is not a family setting, so they do not learn family skills, how to interact with mother, father, siblings. They’re in an institutionalized setting at no fault of their own,” said Colleen Riddle.

One More Child has recently restructured its offerings for foster teens. It offers large homes on its campus, mortgage free, for families willing to foster a minimum of five kids at a time. The families must be willing to foster children between the ages of 0-17, including sibling groups.

The next foster parent training is September 14. Applicants must register before attending.

Some of the requirements for their program is being at least 21 years of age, in good health, a Christian, financially stable, and able to pass a background check.