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SALT LAKE CITY — You could say the world is Blake's playground.
"Yeah, that's pretty much it," Blake agreed.
The 16-year-old is always moving, and on Wednesdays he got the Airborne Trampoline Arena in Draper all to himself.
At 16, most teens focus on getting their driver's license, but not Blake.
"I'd rather be over here doing something fun," he said.
He prefers other ways of getting around.
"I'm more the type of person to go out on my bike or run around and get myself places that way," he said.
To say Blake is active would be an understatement, and he chooses to look on the bright side of things.
"I try to be positive as much as I can," he said.
It hasn't always been that way.
"My first attempt to face the world would be all anger because I was more mad all the time," he said.
Blake entered the Utah foster care system when he was 5 years old.
"I don't really remember the whole situation but, yeah, it came as a surprise to me really," he said. "I had to learn why I wasn't at home anymore."
For four years he moved around from house to house.
"This isn't my first time doing this type of thing," he said.
Blake's been adopted before.
"The funny thing was it was on my birthday, too," he said.
He thought his time spent in the system was finally over.
"Then I got put back into foster care," he said. "It was a really rough road."
Since then he's been lingering in the system every day wondering if today is the day.
"I've been in here too long, and I pretty much know how this works," he said.
He knows it means being patient and waiting for the right family to find him.
"Man, that kind of makes me feel old but I'm not," he said with a laugh.
Blake has been through a lot in his 16 years
"I've been able to realize what I'm capable of," he said.
He's realizes he's capable of still loving and still hoping.
To learn more about Blake or the many other children currently living in the Utah Foster Care system, contact The Adoption Exchange at 801-265-0444
