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SALT LAKE CITY — You could say Austin's dreams are out of this world.
"I've always wanted to go up in outer space and put a flag in the moon," said Austin.
Although it's not exactly the moon, on Wednesday the Clark Planetarium helped him feel a little closer. Austin spent the day exploring the moon and Mars at the planetarium. He even saw real moon rocks.
This 13-year-old science lover dreams big, but there's one dream he wants more than anything else.
"It's been my dream to have family that keeps you forever, instead of just going house to house and never having a family that's going to keep you," Austin said.
A family is something every child needs and deserves.
"I want to be adopted," he said.
Austin lives in the Utah Foster Care system, where nothing is forever.
"Going house to house, to other people's families — it's just for me to go through," he said. "It's not what I want to go through."
At one point Austin was adopted. The experience turned his world upside down.
"I lived with them for a while, then I went back into the foster care system," he said. "I don't want to be in court anymore. I don't really like it."
Despite all he's been through, he's choosing to be happy, optimistic and hopeful for the future.
"I decided, you know, I just want to be good and who knows what will come to me," Austin said.
He hopes it's a family; one he can stay with and share his dreams with. A family that will love him to the moon and back.
To learn more about Austin or the many other children hoping to be adopted, contact the Adoption Exchange.
