CARBONDALE - Amanda Joyce is a foster care success story. The 26-year-old, who spent much of her life in foster care, earlier this month graduated from law school.

Joyce bounced around foster homes in the Chicago area before being placed with Normal residents Steve and Cheryl Floyd, who were living in Clinton at the time.

Joyce came to the Floyds just shy of her 16th birthday and believes the foster care she received from them saved her life.

"There's a tendency for foster parents to avoid teens because of the mistaken view that many may be beyond help," Joyce said. Teens "just need to be fitted well," she said.

Joyce was a good fit with the Floyds.

Their support helped her turn her life around. She did well in college and attended law school in Carbondale. Considering a career in the U.S. Army JAG Corps, she'd like to eventually work as a federal prosecutor helping abuse victims.

Despite her life's rocky start, Joyce wouldn't change anything. "It's made me who I am," she said.

She may become a foster parent herself.

"I'm still paying off student loans, so I need to be financially able to do it," she said. She's also raising a 4-year-old daughter, Victoria.

Steve Floyd, who said foster parents need patience and compassion, believes Joyce fits the bill.

"She's like the poster child of foster care," he said.

Though the Floyds are no longer foster parents, Steve Floyd works as a house supervisor/case manager in the transitional living program at the Children's Foundation in Bloomington. The Floyds became foster parents after deciding they wanted to make a difference, he said.

Joyce and her daughter spend holidays with the Floyds, who consider her family.

Joyce feels the same way.

"I think if it wasn't for Steve and Cheryl, I'd be in prison or dead," she said.