Wednesday's Child — Nikki


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SALT LAKE CITY — At the Cottonwood Animal Hospital in Salt Lake City, the patients on four legs outnumber the people on two.

The people who care so much for these animals may not realize it, but on Wednesday they provided comfort and care of a different kind.

"Have you been to a veterinarian clinic at all?" one of the veterinarians asked Nikki as she walked through the door.

To say Nikki loves animals would be an understatement.

"Growing up, I didn't have very much, but I had animals," she said. "I didn't have friends, but I had animals."

She calls them a source of comfort in lonely times and a companion on days of uncertainty.

"You can just talk to them and get your feelings out," she said. "They won't try to fix them for you."

Nikki lives in the Utah Foster Care System where for years she's been passed around from foster home to foster home.

"Some of them have been bad, some have been OK, some have been horrible within like two days."

It was never supposed to be permanent.

"At first when I was in foster care I never thought of being adopted," she said. "There was one person in my life I always thought I would have that would make me never want to get adopted."

That person was her father. She always believed the day would come when she could go back and live with him. Sometimes, the plans one makes can be lost in an instant.

"Last year, Jan. 21, 2015, my dad passed away from a heart attack. That's when I decided there was no other family for me besides a new one."

Ever since then, she's been searching.

"I want a family to be there for me. I want a family I can actually have with me. I want a family I can go to when I'm upset. I want a family that can be there for me in hard times."

Animals can provide comfort, they can provide companionship, but what every child really needs is a home.

"No matter what age they are," she said.

What is 'Wednesday's Child?'
Wednesday's Child is a cooperative effort between KSL and the Adoption Exchange highlighting foster children looking for permanent homes.

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Ashley Kewish

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