Layne Miller is many things to the Price and Carbon County community: he’s a city councilman, he’s a local history buff, and he and his wife, Karen, have been foster parents for over 20 years.
Recently, Miller shared that Division of Child and Family Services (DCFS) Director Diane Moore informed him that he was appointed to a statewide Foster Parent and Kinship Caregiver Advisory Board. This board will work to improve the lives of youth that have gone through the foster care system.
Miller stated that his effort for the last five years, give or take, has been to improve the success of kids that are aging out of foster care. The Millers take teenage boys into their home, get them settled and graduated from high school, then out on their own.
According to Miller, they have had a lot of success doing that, but the area where they struggle is to get them to be successful once they leave their home. They have had approximately eight or 10 boys register for college, though none of them have made it through the first semester, usually as it ends up being too difficult for the boys.
Miller explained that these boys find success while housed with them, but almost always reach a crashing point, rebounding and finding a wall once again. Each time, Miller said that the crash is not as deep and the rebound gets better, though it tends to take at least a year to get through the cycle before they stabilize. Miller stated that he believes that the lack of success at college and on their own can be attributed to a lack of family support.
Looking at his own life at 18, Miller shared that he registered for college. For the first year, he learned how to play pool really well and then dropped out and returned home to live with his parents. The third time that Miller returned to college was successful, and he shared his belief that familial support was a big reason for the success.
For those that are aging out of foster care to also meet success within their personal lives, the work would have to be a statewide effort, according to Miller. When he learned that there was going to be a statewide committee formed, he volunteered to serve.
“It’s not just a Price or Carbon County issue, it’s a statewide issue,” Miller said.
Miller explained that to help society, you begin with the kids, and somebody needs to be there to support them. He believes that at first, there is a need to identify what the issue is, followed by the need to solve that issue. He acknowledged that it would likely not be easy.
Another issue that has been noticed by the Millers is that being in foster care becomes a huge roadblock for the youth that are in care and they are unable to see past that roadblock. These issues and more will be addressed by those that are on the Foster Care and Kinship Caregiver Advisory Board to give the best possible opportunity to those that are aging out of the foster care system.