Bailey McCoy
Bailey, an 18-year-old in Northern California, has a passion to help others and make a difference. She was taken into the foster care system at 15 in November 2022, because her mom and stepdad did domestic violence due to substance abuse. She was always trying to protect and look out for her 2 younger siblings in that dangerous home environment. During her time in foster care, her voice was constantly dismissed by people who were supposed to advocate for her, such as her social worker.
She was labeled with Oppositional Defiant Disorder along with multiple other mental illnesses. They had her on psychotropic medications. Once she turned 18 and graduated high school, she became a non-minor dependent in extended foster care through a THP-NMD program. Extended foster care works by providing housing and financial assistance to eligible former foster youth who turned 18 in foster care and are anywhere from 18-21. After getting into a THP-NMD program, Bailey was able to taper off the 3 psychotropic medications they had her on. She remains off of them, because she feels great and realizes she didn’t have mental health issues, she was in a toxic home environment without adequate support.
Even though she’s working on healing herself and feels a lot better now, she still battles the system a lot and is frequently battling rights violations by her team. Because of Bailey’s experiences plus what she’s seeing a 16-year-old friend currently going through, Bailey has every desire to advocate and fight for youth rights and their autonomy. She is hoping to major in the field of law and wants to become a court judge some day to help get justice served.
Bailey joined NYRA in February 2026 and currently works on the Communications team.
Bailey’s Podcast Episodes:
Youth Rights Podcast Ep 10: Horror Stories of the Foster Care System and Child Abuse
NYRA Board member Zane Miller interviews NYRA Volunteers Bailey McCoy and Rebecca Vigil about their experiences in the foster care system. Listen as they discuss flaws in the foster care system, child abuse, and failures of CPS to Intervene.
Listen to the Episode on Spotify and Apple Podcasts
Other members Included: Zane Miller, Rebecca Vigil
