Kobi Prettyman, Lead Foster Adoptive Consultant for Utah Foster Care, visited the Price City Council during their Wednesday evening meeting to speak with them regarding all things Foster Care.
May is swiftly approaching and is known as National Foster Care Month. To highlight the very present need in the Carbon and Emery area, Foster Parent and Councilman Layne Miller joined Prettyman during this presentation. Prettyman explained that there are about 80 children in Carbon and Emery counties that are in Foster Care.
This is down from about 100 children five to seven years ago. However, there are now only 16 foster families in the area, which is down to half. This means that while there are 20 less children in the system, there are also only half as many homes available.
With these numbers, Prettyman stated that the two counties are in a foster care crisis. She urged the city to assist in supporting efforts and encouraging patrons to consider fostering. There are many ways they are trying to grow this desire, such as implementing Care Community, which is a new program that would be a group of community members coming together for support.
Prettyman then shared that on April 18 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., an event is being hosted in regard to fostering siblings, as it is important to keep them together whenever possible. She wanted to encourage people to come and learn more about fostering, which is an event that Miller will be part of.
Miller explained that having siblings in a home can be totally different than having individual foster children. Currently, he and his wife are fostering brothers, as well as a younger boy, and there are many things that foster parents face that regular parents do not normally face. Miller said dealing with siblings is one of those things.
Miller’s home is currently the only one is Carbon and Emery that is a level three and can bring in teenage boys. “So if I don’t do it, who’s going to do it?” he questioned.
Contact Prettyman at (435) 636-0210 or by email at kobi.prettyman@utahfostercare.org. for more information on the upcoming event and fostering in general.