What do you get when you bring together hundreds of children in foster care and 80 Hill Air Force Base airmen? Lots of smiles and hugs, as members of the 419^th and 388^thFighter Wings made their annual delivery of holiday gifts.

ABC4 Utah, KSL, and the Deseret News sent photographers to document the gathering at Utah Foster Care Foundation headquarters in Murray. In Northern Utah, sincere thanks to the Ogden Standard-Examiner for another look at great holiday tradition.

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It was never part of Teresa Cook’s original life plan to become a foster parent. But after giving birth to five children, the Vernal woman still had the feeling her family was incomplete.

Initially, Cook felt like international adoption was her answer, but a serendipitous series of unconnected events soon shifted her focus to foster care.

In 2009, Teresa and her husband Rhett decided to become licensed foster care providers. Just one month after completing their training, they were asked if they would be willing to care for a 15-month-old boy named Isaiah.

Half a year later, on New Year’s Eve, another phone call came. A 9-year-old girl named Jean and her 10-year-old brother Jacob desperately needed a family willing to take them both in so they wouldn’t have to be separated.

Cook, who was still learning to juggle the schedules of six children, was initially hesitant.

“I remember saying, ‘My plate is really full right now, but they can stay with us just for the weekend while you keep looking for another place,’” she said.

The weekend, though, quickly turned into a week and that week turned into a month. Before long, the Cooks couldn’t imagine their family without Jean and Jacob. By the summer of 2011, the couple had been able to finalize the adoptions of all three of the children who had been placed in their care.

“People who know a little bit about our situation always come up to me and say, ‘Those kids are so lucky to have you,’” Cook said. “But I think the opposite is true. It’s not those kids who needed us; we needed them.”

Every so often, Cook said she still gets calls from caseworkers wondering if there is any possible way the family would be willing to care for another child.

“I hate saying no, but there just isn’t any way that we could do that right now,” she said. “It breaks my heart. I can’t stop wondering where those kids went and if they’re in a safe place.”

Across the state of Utah, officials have been sending out an urgent appeal for more foster families just like the Cooks who are willing to care for children desperately in need of a stable and loving environment. Often, foster care providers serve as a support system for children whose parents are working to make the adjustments for reunification. In some cases though, like with the Cooks, a placement might eventually become an adoption.

Regardless of the end result, Mike Hamblin, director of foster family recruitment for the Utah Foster Care Foundation, said the need is the same. Unfortunately, Hamblin can cite some grim statistics that paint a picture of a system desperately in need of more caregivers.

In the Uintah Basin at any given time, there are approximately 120 to 135 kids in foster care and only 40 families licensed to provide for them.

As a result, caseworkers sometimes have no choice but to place children and teens hundreds of miles away from their homes because no beds were available nearby. All too often, siblings are split up and placed across town from each other because few foster parents are willing to care for more than one child.

“We want to do everything we can to help make this experience less traumatic, and having enough foster parents to be able to keep kids in their community or with their siblings is so important,” Hamblin said. “We need people who are willing to care for children of all ages, from birth to teenagers. These are regular kids who, due to circumstances beyond their control, have found themselves in need of a home.”

To address the ever-present need for foster parents, the Utah Foster Care Foundation recently launched a billboard campaign across the state, focusing particularly on areas like the Uintah Basin where there is a greater-than-average need for more providers.

Hamblin said there are currently three billboards in the Basin and officials hope their messages have resonated with people who have ever considered becoming foster parents.

One of the main things Hamblin said the foundation is trying to help people realize is that they need volunteers from all walks of life—regardless of whether they are married or single, if they already have kids or if they are childless.

“Just like the children in foster care are diverse, so are our foster parents,” he said. “These are just people who have seen an opportunity to change lives and make a difference.”

That message is one Cook has witnessed come to fruition in her family. With eight children at home ranging in age from 3 to 15, life at the Cook house is a crazy blend of chaos and laughter. Everyone has had to make adjustments, but Cook said it’s been an inspiring process to watch the children learn to view each other as family.

For anyone wondering if foster care might be something they should consider, Cook said it’s important to remember you don’t have to wait until you feel like you’re a supermom or superdad who has everything perfectly under control before deciding to reach out to children in need.

“I’m just a normal person,” Cook said. “I didn’t wake up one day and say, ‘I have this mom stuff down now, so I guess I’m ready to take on more.’ All the foster parents I know are just regular people. These kids just want to be loved, and once they start to feel loved and secure, they reciprocate that back to you. They just need a chance.”

Features Editor

Box Elder News Journal

features@benewsjournal.com

            At first thought, five teenager daughters under one roof can sound quite daunting and down right crazy. But the love and laughter that generates in the Bartz home diminishes most of those feelings the second they open their door.

            In celebration of November being National Adoption month, Richard and Anisa Bartz of Brigham City shared their story of adopting their five daughters, Olyvia, Deja, Trinity, Dezire and Staysha through the Utah Foster Care System.

            “Adoption is just a word,” stated Richard. “I don’t look at these girls like they are adopted because they are my family.”

            Richard and Anisa’s journey began after they had their first children, Arissa and Terron, and wanted to continue building their family. “I have always wanted a big family, but once we had our boy and girl I was good with that, and decided to go other means,” Richard said.

            Anisa continued, “I just feel that the more the kids the better.”

            The Bartz started their process of growing their family through a program called Proctor Care. This is a similar program to the foster care system, yet is geared more toward children that have had trouble in juvenile court compared to children whose surroudnings and lifestyle led them to be removed from their home.

            “We were in the Protor program for about four years and we had many boys come through our home but when our daughter reached the age of 11 or 12 we felt more comfortable helping girls in our home,” explained Richard. “That is when we decided to get licensed with Foster Care and we have been doing it for about eight years now.”

            Anisa said that her and Richard decided to do sibling group through foster care because they wanted to keep children and families together rather than separating them. “There are so many people in foster care that just go for single children or babies, but we felt strongly that there are teenagers out there that don’t have homes and live out on the street and that they need our help. I have always gotten along better with teenagers than young kids, and if I had a bigger house with more space I would adopt more.”

            Not only is the need for homes for teenagers in foster care why Richard and Anisa foster teens, but they also are the owners of Great Danes. “We have four Great Danes and they are like our babies to us,” said Richard. “The dogs are our lives and we felt that if we fostered young children and babies that they would fear the dogs and also could be harmed by them.”

            Both Anisa and Richard credit their ability to be able to raise these girls by the support and their family. “My mother is one of the greatest supports that we have; she is an inspiration and an awesome grandma to each of these girls,” explained Richard. “We just have such a wonderful support group from our family and neighbors and we are so thankful for them.” Anisa added, “The girls work really hard to make sure that they try to get a long and to be happy with a great sense of humor, that they also help us to make this all work out. They are awesome girls and I am so glad we have them.”

            Choosing to foster and eventually adopt each of these girls was a family decision. “When we decided to start the foster program, we asked our children Arissa and Terron if they were okay with it; together we decided it was something we wanted to do. And with every situation that has arose in the past years, any child that is in our home is included in the decision making because it involves all of us,” said Richard.

            Each girl in the Bartz home brings their own unique personality to their family. Between the five girls, there are two sets of siblings: Trinity (17) and Staysha (16), and Deja (13) and Dezire (15) and then Olyvia (16) who holds her own. Each were fostered with the Bartz and between January of 2008 and and August of this year,  and each have been legally adopted.

            Though from different backgrounds and races, the girls do have all one thing in common;  their parents.

            “To me, being adopted means freedom,” stated Olyvia who had been in the foster care system for many years and through many homes and families. “My parents are willing to let me make my own decisions and learn from them, they don’t say I have to do this and I have to do that. Having a family and parents who care about me is freedom.”

            Trinity shared a similar feeling toward adoption. “The Foster Care system has so many rules and regulations that we really can’t do anything. But once we were adopted our parents still have rules, but less than that of foster care.”

            Deja added that “being adopted makes me feel safe.”

            Anisa described that we must embrace who the child is so that they do feel safe and at the liberty to make choices. “When you adopt a baby or young child, they don’t have a background or their life already set; but teenagers come with history and they have their own personalities and I feel like we are here for them to help them figure out who they are and to give them life guidance. It it hard to connect with a teen, but it can be done.”

            Since the teens come from different backgrounds, they also come from varied religions. Richard and Anisa make sure that each girl is able to still practice what they believe in.

            “We have a wide range of religious beliefs in our home and thankfully we have friends and neighbors who are willing to take each girl to the church of their choice,” Anisa said. “We aren’t here to push a religion or lifestyle on them; we are here to guide them and let them be themselves.”

            The family likes to call themselves the BMW’s (blacks, mexicans and whites) because even though they are different color, they are still each others family.

            “ The girls do try hard to get along, but they argue with each other, but what family doesn’t?” stated Anisa. “What’s crazy is how the biological siblings argue more with each than with other siblings.”

            The girls had some advice for families who are wanting to participate in foster care who may want to foster teenagers.“It can be scary at first because of teenagers come with backgrounds and personalities, but people need to learn to dig deeper—even beyond what the case worker tells you— because there is always more to us than what’s on the outside,” said Olyvia.  Trinity added, “Instead of freakin’ out about the situation, just look at it has an opportunity to get to know the person thats there.”

            Richard and Anisa also shared advice for parents who are interested in fostering or even adopting teenagers.

            “Try to make things happy, and make light of whats going on around you. Make sure to have fun together and remember that laughter is a huge part of happiness,” stated Anisa. Richard also commented, “Its an emotional, spiritual roller coaster,” joked Richard. “ But the blessings that come from raising these girls outweigh all of that. It’s never quiet around here but we wouldn’t want it any different.”

            November is also a time to reflect on being thankful and the girls gratitude toward their parents showed through their actions and words toward them.

            “When I was first adopted, I had a really hard time letting go of my past and got into some trouble and so then I was taken out of the home and was sent to group,” explained Dezire. “I was able to come back once I graduated from the group, but I realized that I didn’t know what I had until it was gone and I now I know that I need this family; I need my sisters and my parents.”

            Staysha also commented on needing her family. “I love my adopted parents because they have opened their door to me and let me and my sisters be ourselves and they accept me for who I am.”

            Brenda Durtschi, the area representative for the Utah Foster Care Foundation, was present during the conversation and stated “Many people take for granted the youth that are in foster care and look at them differently. But people need to realize that when they foster a teen, that what you see is what you get; you know about their backgrounds and what you are going to be dealing with. Teenagers need the guidance care and safety just like any other child.”

            The Utah Foster Care Foundation is a private, non-profit organization contracted by the Division of Child and Family Services (DCFS) to find, education and support foster and adoptive families to care for the children in Utah’s foster care system.

            In Utah, there are 2600+ children in foster care at any given time and more than 1400 licensed foster/adoptive families in this state. Last year, 539 children in Utah were adopted from the foster care system and mostly from their foster parents.

            For more information about Foster Care, visit www.utahfostercare.org or call 877-505-KIDS (5437).

By Satenik Sargsyan, Logan Herald Journal

Sunday, November 6, 2011

When Tammy Trickler purchased a family portrait, she had to hide it behind the couch
for days — holding her breath and feeling every heartbeat before the court
hearing that would forever change the fate of her family.

The complication was that three of seven children in the
Tricklers’ Mendon area home did not yet legally belong to the family. More so,
they came from a different culture — one in which a group of people who had
most likely had never met the Tricklers, were to decide whether Tim and Tammy
would get to keep them.

Then 6-months-old twins, Kaycee and Zander, and
3-year-old Konnor were foster children of American Indian descent at Tricklers’
home. And as if the complexity of adoption was not enough in itself, the
children’s cultural heritage played a bigger role in the adoption process.

“We have the support of the children’s (biological)
uncle. He speaks Navajo to the kids, plays games with them. I don’t know what
we would’ve done without his help,” Tammy said.

The Tricklers’ case is one of many when the cultural
background of children plays a major role in either the placement or the
adoption process of children in Utah.

Although the number of registered foster families in
Cache County and statewide is significantly lower than the number of children
who need homes, the bigger issue Utah Foster Care Foundation is facing at the
moment is the need for families that are culturally compatible and a “good
match” for these children, said Teri Erickson, a resource family consultant
with the Division of Family and Children’s Services.

Finding a “good match”

In 2011, 17 Hispanic children were placed in various
homes in Cache County. With only one registered Hispanic family in the area,
the possibility of placing these children in culturally compatible homes is slim,
to say the least.

“We always find a way to make it work. I just feel like
sometimes we are pushing their (children’s and families’) boundaries. We want
to have more options for these children who are already traumatized,” Erickson
said.

Every year, Erickson said about 30 percent of all
children in Northern Utah foster care are Hispanic.

Only five out of 54 resource families in Cache Valley
speak Spanish with some level of fluency, she said.

Erickson said she is confident in the language skills of
only two of the five families. Finding a “good match” for children with no or
little knowledge of English is a major challenge, she said.

From foster care to adoption

The main reasons why children come into the custody of
the state is because of a hostile environment at home. The goal of the state is
to create a safe environment in children’s biological families and facilitate
reunification, Erickson said.

Thus, resource families are required to be open to
adoption if biological parents fail to fulfill the requirements of the state
and lose all rights to parenthood. However, foster families need to be ready to
let children transition into their biological families, if parents regain
custody.

The Trickler family and Desiree Gunnel of Providence
learned about the issues with trying to adopt American Indian foster children
the hard way.

The Tricklers were in court for the adoption hearing when
the unexpected happened: The Navajo tribe called in to cancel the adoption
process.

According to the law, the tribes have a final say in the
adoption of American Indian children in foster care.

If it wasn’t for the children’s biological grandparents
supporting the adoption, Tammy would have never been able to put up the family
portrait with her seven children.

“For awhile, the conversation was back and forth in
Navajo, and nobody in the court had an idea what they (the tribe and
grandparents) were talking,” she said.

For Gunnel, things didn’t go that well. She was denied
adoption of her American Indian foster daughter, who had been living in Cache
County with her parents before she was taken by the state. When it came time
for adoption, the tribe decided the girl would go to the reservation.

Local support

More often than not, children come into foster homes with
nothing but what they are wearing.

And when they are in a midst of an emotional
roller-coaster families often catch themselves having to take care of basic
needs— clothing, toothbrush, blankets and backpacks.

Gunnel hopes to garner support for a foundation, Komfort
Kits, that would provide foster parents with everything the children need the
first day they come home.

“We want to make sure that instead of focusing on buying
clothes, a toothbrush, foster parents have time to focus on the
children,”Gunnel said.

Gunnel is working on a blog
www.fosterkomfortkits.blogspot.comand hopes to garner community support to help
local families in opening their doors to children foster parents .

The obvious problem

During the past decade, foster care placements in Utah
have increased by 38 percent, while the number of families that allow children
to stay in their family homes has decreased by 40 percent, the audit by
Legislative Auditor General showed earlier this year.

Things don’t look too different in Cache Valley either:
The number of placements in the valley has increased by 200 percent in the last
five years, according to Dawn Hollingsworth, the associate director for the
foundation’s Northern Region. The number of children needing foster care has
steadily increased in the last decade.

Janel and Boyd Brimleys will attest to at least one
problem with being foster parents: It’s hard to let them go, and foster parents
don’t know if they will have to.

And no matter how attached families become to foster
children, if the Division of Family and Children’s Services decides that it is
safe for children to return to their biological families, foster parents don’t
have much of a choice.

“Our No. 1 goal is reunification. We want our foster
families to be open to let them go home (to their biological families) or be
willing to adopt,” Erickson said.

Janel and Boyd now have a family of nine — including
three adopted and two foster children.

Although now they can’t imagine their home without the
hyperactive, large family now, the Brimleys had to let to go of three foster
children.

“It’s really hard. You love them like your own and then
you have to let them go. It’s heartbreaking,” she said.

When Tammy and Tim opened their homes to a toddler and
two babies for what they thought would be a couple of weeks, they couldn’t even
imagine their lives would change forever. Had the adoption not worked, they
would have to let Zander, Kaycee and Konnor go, too.

But even despite the emotion and uncertainty, all
families interviewed by The Herald Journal said fostering a child is worth
every tear.

“They need a home. These are children that have nowhere
else to go. Who knows what they’ve been through,” Janel said.

October 10, 2011

SALT LAKE CITY — Jode Littlepage has spent years digging out of the mess foster parents in California had made of her credit.

They used her Social Security number to apply for credit cards and open bank accounts. When she left the foster care system, she was burdened with thousands of dollars of debt and serious damage to her credit history.

“Going into college, it was very difficult to apply for housing, even get a bank account because I had all of these negative things on my credit,” said Littlepage, who mentors Utah youths in foster care through a program in the Department of Workforce Services.

Given her personal experiences and numerous instances she has counseled Utah youths who have encountered financial manipulation on the part of birth and foster families, Littlepage welcomes a new federal law that requires states to run credit checks on older foster children to help resolve cases of identity theft.

President Barack Obama signed the Foster Youth Financial Security Act into law on Sept. 30.

The new law ensures that foster children 16 and older receive free credit checks before leaving state foster care systems and that they are given assistance in clearing any inaccuracies that come to light.

As many as 30 percent of foster children might be victims of identity theft, based on reviews of the credit reports of foster children, The Associated Press reports. Most do not recognize that their identities have been stolen until they grow up and apply for credit.

Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., co-sponsor of the legislation, said foster children “are already behind the eight ball,” he said.

“They’re already dealing with psychological and emotional problems because of abuse and neglect. It’s outrageous that they would be further victimized by identity theft and find out about it just when they’re trying to establish themselves with a car loan, apartment or job.”

In general, children are more at risk of identity theft than adults, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have found. Their review of records of 42,000 children found more than 10 percent showed signs of identity theft. Meanwhile, the federal government estimates that 4 percent of adults are victims of identity theft.

The thieves are often birth families, who may view a child’s Social Security number as a means to put food on the table, pay rent or feed an addiction.

Littlepage, who was abandoned as an infant and spent about 16 years in foster care before entering college early, said it took six years to dig out of the mess created by the adults the state of California had trusted to care for her.

“You think it would be a stranger or someone in the agency using numbers that way. It’s really more foster and biological families. Either way, it’s no good,” she said.

She remains vigilant about checking her credit each year and advising the youths she mentors to pay attention to their personal finances.

Young people in foster care are subject to other forms of financial manipulation, she said. If a child in foster care gets a job, scholarship or educational grant, their birth family may pressure them for money. She has also counseled foster children whose foster parents have made financial demands of them such as helping with household expenses once they have secured jobs.

“It’s out there. It’s more prominent than people want to believe. It’s not strangers trying to steal from these kids, it’s foster parents and biological families,” Littlepage said.

A report by the University of San Diego School of Law’s Child Advocacy Institute says a wide array of people have access to a foster child’s Social Security number and other personal information, including parents, grandparents, family members, foster parents, social workers and group home personnel.

“Too often, this access is abused for everything from opening credit cards to fraudulently providing identification for criminal matters. Many foster youth do not learn that their identities have been stolen and their credit destroyed until they have exited care and apply for credit,” the report said.

The 2011 report, “The Fleecing of Foster Children: How We Confiscate their Assets and Undermine Their Financial Security,” says identity theft can have devastating consequences.

“Former foster youth may face problems finding safe and adequate housing; they may be denied loans for cars and other larger necessities, and they may be denied financial aid and the opportunity to attend college, all as a result of identity theft that occurred while they were in foster care.”

Contributing: Associated Press

Jennette Brown of Midvale can create almost anything — from chalk art dragons to graphic art werewolves.

“I have a huge imagination,” Brown said.

And recently her art helped earn donations for foster children in Utah.

Brown, 24, participated in the Utah Foster Care Foundation’s Chalk Art Festival contest at the Gateway in Salt Lake City in June. Brown was adopted as a baby and has a special place in her heart for adopted or foster children.

Brown’s dusty creation didn’t win a prize in the festival’s contest but she had two days of fun with her childhood friend and fellow artist Whitney Lunt, 25 of Holladay.

The two artists shared the job of filling a six-by-six foot square of concrete with colorful shades of chalk. They drew a girl writing a story about a castle, a sunset and a dragon sitting on a rock.

“We didn’t win anything but it was fun and we’ll definitely do it again next year,” Brown said.

The artists worked on their piece for 10 hours on June 17 and three hours on June 18.

Brown and Holladay did their chalk art on a paper grid system which Brown had mapped out on the computer. They worked from the middle out “because we didn’t want to be stuck trying to crawl over our art to get to the middle,” Brown said.

Many children walked by and stopped to watch the two women working on their chalk creation. They especially liked the dragon. “Kids would say, `A dragon, a dragon.’ laughed Brown.

A total 120 artists worked on 75 sidewalk murals.

The contest theme was “Foster Parents are Magical.” This is the ninth year of the event. There was a $45 fee to enter the chalk art contest.

There are approximately 2,800 children in foster care in Utah and 1,400 licensed foster/adoptive families in the state.

“We are always in need of more foster families,” said Deborah Lindner, communications manager for the Utah Foster Care Foundation.

Foundation officials said the annual festival is meant to gather donations but also to reach out to the community and let people know there is a great need for foster parents. An estimated 20,000 people were at the Gateway over the two-day event.

Many people walked by and admired the sidewalk art. Some told the artists “God bless you,” Brown said.

This year’s Festival garnered the foundation $10,000 in donations. Some of the funds will go for publicity, including printing and billboards. There is also programming such as the foster family camp which offers training for foster parents.

The Utah Foster Care Foundation is a nonprofit organization serving Utah’s children by finding, educating and nurturing families to meet the needs of children in foster care.

The foundation is a private, nonprofit organization contracted by the Division of Child and Family Services to find, educate, and support foster and adoptive families to care for the children in Utah’s foster care system.

For information contact Utah Foster Care at www.utahfostercare.org or call 877-505-KIDS (5437).

Brown earned an associate’s degree in music from Brigham Young University-Idaho in 2010 but loves to create art.

She has a web camera where people can watch her draw and ask her questions. People can post comments about her art.

“I just think up worlds and creatures and fun things that are out of the norm,” she said. “I can draw something real but I would rather draw something fantasy and magical. Real life is boring.”

Brown’s werewolf drawings have really taken off thanks to the popular “Twilight” series of books that spotlight vampires and werewolves.

Brown can draw a werewolf transformation sequence where a person goes from human to wolf in five steps. “I’m not a werewolf artist but this is what I get commissioned to do,” Brown laughed.

Marketing officials with MTV’s show “Teen Wolf” just asked Brown to enter their werewolf drawing contest. She is also working on a graphic novel called “Wolf Legend.”

Her artist web page is www.jennettebrown.com.

The Spectrum/ Cedar City Daily News

By Amy Bates

Foster/Adoptive Mother

The night before my first-born was scheduled to come into the world, I could not sleep. This was not only because our little “bundle of joy” decided to stick his foot into my rib, but I was just so excited by the thought of becoming his mother.

Here I am, years later, in much the same situation. As I write this article, it is the eve of our 16-year-old son being adopted into our family, and I find myself once again full of the kind of anticipation that does not allow my eyes to close.

Although there are similarities with this addition and our first one, there are some major differences. For one thing, this son will come to us pretty much grown, which is a good thing when you consider the difficulties that giving birth to a 5-foot tall, 80-pound boy might pose. Some might think a soon-to-be mother would be less than ecstatic when thinking about missing out on the baby stage and skipping right to the teen-age part, but not this mom. I am thrilled that most of that is behind me.

Since I have started writing for The Spectrum & Daily News, I have written about adoption and foster care as many times as they will let me. It is a vital part of who I am and a subject that I do not think gets enough attention. Children are suffering, and all of us need to step up and help those who need it most. I could spend my time quoting facts to you about the number of children who are waiting, how long they have to wait, or even the dire predictions made for children who “age out” of the system, but I am not sure that would motivate people to look at what they could do to help. I think it is only when we look at individual cases and hear their stories that we put a face on this heart-wrenching problem.

I know there is a lot of misinformation and fear when it comes to adopting from foster care. I think the top fear would be that the kids all have problems, something “wrong” with them. Yes, many of them do have struggles. I will let you in on a secret: All children have challenges, even those not in the “system.” Yes, there are some significant issues these children face, but none of them are insurmountable.

(2 of 2)

Another fallacy is that you can’t be a foster parent unless you are a saint or a perfect parent. Well, my children will be first in line to dispel that myth. I am not a super hero, and the good thing is no one is looking for one. As one profound ad put it, “They need ordinary people to do something extraordinary.”

The need is real for people to get involved and change the life of a child. Not everyone can do that by adopting, but everyone can do something to help these beautiful children find their forever homes. As I look at the ticking clock move closer and closer to our court appointment, my thoughts center on pretty much the same things as they did when our first son was born.

“I am so lucky that I get to be this kid’s mom. I really hope I can do right by him; and I already love him so much.” In the end, the way children enter into your family is not nearly as important as the fact that they do.

Amy Bates is a resident of Cedar City and a member of The Spectrum & Daily News Writers Group. She can be reached at bates4ever@hotmail.com.

GEOFF LIESIK, VERNAL EXPRESS

Mookie Harris wins ‘People’s Choice’ award in Salt Lake City

 By Geoff Liesik, Vernal Express and Uintah Basin Standard

July 5, 2011

 Mookie Harris is only 17 years old but she spent part of the past month with aches and pains that typically trouble someone at least four times her age. The strain that brought on numbness in her fingers and stiffness in her back so intense that Harris said she wanted to “just lay down and not ever sit again” was all for a good cause though — to raise funds for the Utah Foster Care Foundation.

Harris, a bubbly Vernal teen who will serve as student body president when classes resume at Uintah High School in the fall, is one of the most popular young artists at the foundation’s annual Chalk Art Festival. She captured the People’s Choice Award again this year, her second such honor in the four years she’s been “chalking.”

“I actually still have chalk in between the crevices of my fingers and some on my legs,” Harris said five days after the June 17-18 Chalk Art Festival at The Gateway in Salt Lake City, where she used artist’s pastels to recreate a scene from Disney’s “The Little Mermaid.”

“You meet lots of people,” Harris said about the event. “My favorite is the reactions of the little kids who see your work. It’s super fun.”

Each year for the past nine years crowds have milled up and down The Gateway’s main street every Father’s Day weekend, stopping to watch professionals and amateurs alike create vibrant pieces of temporary art. This year’s entries included everything from Japanese anime characters to George Washington crossing the Delaware to Dutch master Johannes Vermeer’s painting “Girl with a Pearl Earring.”

Harris created original works for her festival pieces in 2008 and 2009. A challenging academic load, coupled with Harris’ involvement in student government and athletics, prevented her from designing her own artwork for the past two years.

In 2010, she chalked a Tinkerbell design she found online. This year, in the square sponsored by Forever Young Preschool of Vernal, she chose to work from an online image of The Little Mermaid because “my mom’s favorite is Ariel.”

In the weeks leading up to the festival, Harris first sketches out the design she will use on paper. Then she moves outside to the driveway and sidewalks in front of her home. She tries to get a feel for how different colors will work together and practices her blending technique.

“The fingers that you rub with, even though you’re using gloves, you can’t feel for a couple of days (after the festival) in those fingers,” Harris said.

“The hardest part about chalking is walking away from it,” she added. “You spend so much time and you know in a couple days it’s going to be a road.”

Harris doesn’t consider herself an artist, though she does some online graphic design and is designing T-shirts for the Utes’ volleyball team. She sees art as a way to relax, she said, and isn’t considering a career in the field.

“Right now I just want to be a volleyball player and get a degree in forensic science,” she said.

Provo Daily Herald

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Robert Brough remembers the day he pulled into a McDonald’s parking lot with his three youngest children and saw someone he didn’t quite expect — the woman who gave birth to two of his children.

He said hello to the homeless, drug-addicted woman and invited her to come into the restaurant with them. The three children played in the ball pit and talked to her. She gave 9-year-old Ashlynne a little necklace she had on. Short of relinquishing her parental rights, it was the best gift she’d given the little girl, who was already dealing with the leftovers of the prenatal drug abuse.

“See?” the petite blonde girl said, holding up the little clear and blue charm as her parents tell the story of her early life that she knows so well she can tell it herself.

Ashlynne’s story is one chapter of the Broughs’ story: More than a decade of foster care along with five children of their own, three children adopted from foster care, all with severe difficulties brought on by drug-addicted mothers, the last daughter just a few months older than the Broughs’ first grandchild. The story got a new chapter last month when the Utah Foster Care Foundation selected Utah County resident Robert Brough as the Western Region’s Foster/Adoptive Dad of the Year.

It was a surprise, to say the least. The other foster dads he knows who have gotten this award have been amazing.

“She does most of the work,” Robert Brough said of his wife, Joy Brough.

Not so, Joy said; Robert cooks, cleans, changes diapers and plays with the children, even more so now that she is in school full-time.

“That’s just everyday stuff,” Brough said, shrugging.

The other everyday stuff — digging up worms with 9-year-old Ashlynne, wrestling with 4-year-old Landon and 2-year-old Madelyn, starting whipped cream fights in the house, cleaning whipped cream off the couch when the battle didn’t stay in the kitchen and being the only dad his five biological children and three adopted children have ever known — were enough to earn him the recognition.

The Broughs decided to become foster parents about 12 years ago; they had room in the house, and Joy had volunteered with the state Division of Child and Family Services and knew of the need for foster care. The paperwork had a box to check if they’d be interested in adoption, and they looked at each other and both said they weren’t. But, Joy said, they decided to say yes anyway and just see what happened.

The first little girls in their home had been taken out of a neglected home. Their mother didn’t know how to parent, Joy said, but after a divorce the father was given custody and the two girls went home with him. For years, they’ve had children in and out of their home, some for a couple of weeks, others for close to a year. All had been abused, neglected, damaged or mistreated.

Joy remembered a little Hispanic girl who came to their home in the middle of the night, so they put her straight to bed. She woke up and found herself surrounded by a white family who didn’t speak Spanish. She didn’t speak English. Joy said the girl was terrified and tried to ask to go to the bathroom. Joy didn’t know what the girl was saying. The girl didn’t know what to do.

“So she just sat there and wet the bed,” Joy said.

Ashlynne was the first drug baby. It was January, and her family was homeless. When the police found her, she was wearing a diaper and a T-shirt. All of the adults around her were passed out.

“They were keeping her in a 5-gallon bucket that they found at a construction site,” Joy Brough said. “I don’t know how long she’d been crying, but the neighbors I guess finally turned them in.”

Other drug-affected infants followed, if only for a short time. One baby, who was HIV-positive and the youngest of eight children, from eight different fathers and a mother who was a patient in the state mental hospital. They couldn’t touch him without wearing surgical gloves and gowns. He was eventually adopted by his grandparents.

“That was pretty neat for Robert because Robert took a lot of time with that baby,” Joy said.

Landon came next. Years later, the DCFS caseworker who’d helped the Broughs adopt Ashlynne ran into her 8-months-pregnant birth mother. A few weeks later, a days-old baby boy joined his older sister; 16 months later he was adopted into the family.

Madelyn was supposed to be a short-termer; relatives of the birth mother were going to take her. After several weeks in, they changed their minds. The caseworker returned to the Broughs and asked if they wanted another child. Maddie was 7 months old when she became Brough child No. 8.

“To us it’s like they always were ours,” Robert said. “I couldn’t ever picture us without ‘em.”

SW Region's Foster/Adoptive Dad of the Year Jerry Barlow gets his award from DCFS Director Brent Platt, UFCF Board Chair Hank Liese, and KSL's Darin Adams.

The Spectrum/Cedar City Daily News

 July 2, 2011

 HURRICANE – Two little girls get up from the couch every few seconds in anticipation of their dad coming home from work.

They think they hear his car, but they’re wrong. Three times.

When Hurricane resident and Foster/Adoptive Dad of the Year Jerry Barlow does walk through the back door, his daughters Lynzie Loyal, 5, and Lyza London, 3, are right there in their matching ruffled outfits to give him a hug.

Barlow’s son William “Bill” Legend Barlow, 17, tries to pretend like it’s no big deal but cracks a smile watching his sisters get so excited.

Bill chose his middle name after the Barlows adopted him June 1 because his sisters had received names from their adoptive parents when they were brought home almost two years ago.

Even though Jerry and Serenity have adopted all three of their children, their household doesn’t feel any different than if the trio had been born and raised in their home.

The girls participate in pageants, sit in their mom’s lap and get in trouble for cutting each other’s hair. Bill has gotten a job to earn the clunker that now sits in the driveway.

“You have to pretend like you like me,” Serenity said to Bill while piling on the couch for family photos, and he wrapped his arms around the rest of the group.

“But not that much,” she laughed.

Bill must like his parents, because a letter he wrote to the Utah Foster Care Foundation for the annual Foster/Adoptive Dad of the Year got Jerry nominated for the award.

“The nominations can come in from anybody, and then we review all of them without knowing who they are, and look at the story, the situation they were in,” said Debbie Hofhines, southwest region representative for the UFCF.

About Bill’s letter, Hofhines said, “I just remember he wrote ‘He sees me, he sees me as his kid.’”

For Serenity, the decision to adopt made sense even before she knew she couldn’t have children, because her foster family adopted her as a young child.

“I knew that’s what I wanted to do,” she said.

Jerry’s story was a little different.

“I grew up in a family that did a lot of drugs,” he said. “I thought it was good to do foster care to get other kids out of bad situations (like I had).”

Jerry, along with four other dads from across the state, won the award and each received a trophy and prizes at the annual Chalk Art Festival in Salt Lake City last month.

Each year, the festival receives 20,000 visitors who learn how to help more than 2,800 Utah kids in foster care.

Hofhines said in her nine-county region of southwest Utah, there are 270 children in foster care and 130 families caring for them.

The Utah Division of Child and Family Services places the kids in adoptive homes, she said, while the foundation trains parents for foster care.

“Generally around here 65 percent of kids do return home to their family,” Hofhines said. “But we always need more families.”

The Barlows said they plan to adopt more children after their kids are older and they can make room for more.

To learn about foster care or adoption, call Hofhines at 656-8065 or visit utahfostercare.org.

 Photo Credit: gallivanphotography.com