Intermountain Health Care newsletter — Urban Central Region
Everyone in the UCR is invited to support the Utah Foster Care Foundation, which works to find foster and adoptive families for teenagers in need. The foundation is one of Intermountain Medical Center’s neighbors in Murray and one of Intermountain’s community partners.
Two examples of the kind of kids the foundation helps are Eddie and Ricky Ballesteros — brothers who needed the love and support of a family. “I don’t know what I would have done without my foster mom and dad,” says Eddie, who’s now working on a degree in bioengineering at the University of Utah.
The Utah Foster Care Foundation provides training for families before they’re licensed as foster parents and supports them through a network of community support groups. More details about foster care in Utah and the foundation’s work:
• Teenagers are in foster care for the same reasons as younger children — often because of neglect and abuse in their biological families.
• Families are needed for children of all ages in all parts of Utah — and teenagers represent more than 40 percent of children in foster care.
• It can be expensive to provide for a teen’s basic needs, which is why donations from the community are always appreciated. Teenagers love the opportunity to shop for themselves and gift cards are especially appreciated, as well as teen-oriented toiletries.
To donate, please contact Erica Dahl at (801) 507-9527 or erica.dahl@imail.org. For more information on foster parenting, go to www.utahfostercare.org or call 1 (877) 505-5437.
