Need for foster parents has increased in Utah

Intermountain Catholic

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The Utah Foster Care Foundation estimates that approximately 2,800 children are in foster care in Utah. Shown are families who took in foster children and ended up adopting them. IC photo/Laura Vallejo

SALT LAKE CITY – When Maria Dominguez used to dream about having a family, she always thought of having a big one.

"I come from a big, big family and when we started a family, I had the idea to have a big one, too," said Dominguez, who now has four kids of her own; she also has a foster child. The Saints Peter and Paul parishioner has been participating with the Utah Foster Care Foundation for the past four years. During that time she has fostered around 15 children.

"Being Catholic has helped me to become a better parent," said Dominguez, adding that she likes kids and taking care of them but most of all she likes being able to help kids who are in need.

According to the Utah Foster Care Foundation, approximately 2,800 children are in foster care in the Beehive State, so the need for foster parents has increased.

"The primary reason that children are removed from their houses is because of drug addiction and domestic violence in the parents," said Christina Kelly LeCluyse, foster/adoptive family recruiter for the Salt Valley Region of the Utah Foster Care Foundation. "The state believes that a kid that witnesses domestic violence can get very traumatized," she added.

Three agencies work in the foster care process.

The first is the Division of Child and Family Services, which is responsible for removing children from unsafe environments and placing them in foster care.

The second in the Utah Foster Care Foundation, which finds, trains and educates families with which to place foster children.

There are also shelters for children. These work with the idea that when the kids are removed from their parents, they will have a safe place to stay temporarily.

"In that shelter they bathe them, they check them medically," said LeCluyse. "But we know that the kids do better when they are in with a family instead of in a shelter. Sadly we do not have enough foster families and the kids have to stay in them."

The idea of the Utah Foster Care is to place the kids with families that have the same racial, cultural and religious background.

"You would always wish that these kids can return to their parents, and I think that’s a good part of who you are," said Dominguez, who also wishes that others would open their hearts and homes to help these kids in need.

‘We need to help out these kids; they are having a bad time in their lives and hopefully people will be able to show their own kids how to be grateful for what they have and to be compassionate towards others," she said.

For more information, contact the Utah Foster Care Foundation at 877-505-KIDS, or Christina Kelly LeCluyse at 801-994-5205 or email more@utahfostercare.org.