Hi, I’m karlos Dillard.
This isn’t just a business—it is the proof that purpose can come from pain. I survived 37 foster homes, homelessness as a teenager, and more than most people could ever imagine. Rather than letting those experiences define me, I used them to build a platform, tell my story, and help others find the confidence to tell theirs. What began as survival became purpose, and purpose became DMLLC.
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Karlos Dillard is a published author, nationally recognized foster care advocate, keynote speaker, and transracial adoptee. Adopted from the Michigan foster care system at age nine, Karlos brings lived experience, professional insight, and an unwavering commitment to improving how foster care and adoption are understood, discussed, and practiced.
Through his social media platform, Karlos provides accessible, diverse, and ethical education on foster care, adoption, transracial adoption, and the long-term impact of trauma. His work centers the voices of people with lived experience while challenging harmful narratives and encouraging more informed, child-centered approaches to care.
Karlos has led trainings for foster families, adoption agencies, colleges, and professional audiences on topics including transracial adoption, adoption trauma, racial identity, systemic inequities, and financial literacy for foster youth. He has also partnered with organizations such as Treehouse for Kids in Seattle, Washington, using his platform to help raise more than $10,000 in toiletries, backpacks, and suitcases for young people in foster care. Karlos later served as the keynote speaker for Treehouse for Kids’ annual Champions Luncheon.
A powerful and sought-after speaker, Karlos has been interviewed by CNN, MSNBC, NPR, and other major media outlets for his perspective on foster care and adoption. His speaking engagements span universities, child welfare organizations, adoption agencies, conferences, and community events. Most recently, he served as a plenary speaker for the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP).
Drawing from his experience surviving more than 30 foster care placements and growing up as a Black transracial adoptee in predominantly white spaces, Karlos leads honest and impactful conversations about race, identity, privilege, belonging, and systemic racism. His work challenges audiences to move beyond surface-level awareness and toward real accountability, empathy, and change.
Karlos is the author of the memoir series Ward of the State: A Memoir of Foster Care and Ward of the State: Abort the Adoption. Through his writing, speaking, advocacy, and media work, he shines a light on the realities too often hidden within the foster care and adoption systems—while helping others recognize that lived experience is not just a story of survival, but a source of knowledge, leadership, and transformation.