LEHI, Utah — Governor Spencer Cox and First Lady Abby Cox issued a plea for Utahns to step forward to be foster parents.
"We are at crisis levels right now," Abby Cox told reporters at a news conference with the Utah Foster Care foundation on Tuesday.
About 1,700 children are in Utah's foster care system right now, she said. There are only 800 families signed up willing to take children in. The number of foster families has reached an all-time low.
"Children over nine years old is our biggest need. There are families that we need to take children that are older than nine years old and sibling groups," the First Lady said.
Gov. Cox said the children are wards of the state.
"We are the state. They are our children," he said, urging people to sign up to be foster parents.
"They can be single. They can be married. They can be homeowners. They can be renters. They can be LGBTQ. They can be religious. They can be nonreligious. They can be parents with children. They can be individuals without children. They can be empty nesters," Abby Cox said.
Foster parents and children who have been in the foster care system also urged people to sign up and help out. Many acknowledged there is sometimes a stigma surrounding foster care and a lot of uncertainty that parents need to lean into.
"When you start to think about just how many kids don’t have a place to go tonight? There’s so many kids that for any number of reasons, their parents aren’t able to care for them," said Jamie White, who has been a foster parent and adopted her foster child, Mila.
Mila White, who was in foster care until she was adopted, said it can be hard for both sides.
"I have hard days where I ask complicated questions. Like, 'Is my mom alive? How many brothers and sisters do I have?' It can be hard those days. But I know my family is there for me. That is rewarding," she told FOX 13 News.
Melissa Nielsen, who has been a foster mother to more than 100 children now, said people can do it.
"It's that scary — the unknown," she said. "What’s going to happen? What am I going to have to deal with? At the end of the day, they’re kids. They need a home and a family."
More information on becoming a foster parent can be found here at the Utah Foster Care website.
