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SALT LAKE CITY — Vanessa is a 14-year-old girl with a laugh and a voice that will make you smile. She wants to be a singer when she grows up, but for now she prefers acting like a kid. It's something she never really got the chance to do.
"I just remember they weren't taking care of me very well and I was having a rough time," said Vanessa of life with her biological parents. "I was taking care of my siblings, trying to make them happy and me happy at the same time."
She says she played that motherly role until just before her sixth birthday, when she entered the Utah Foster Care System.
"I thought I would be living in foster care for maybe two or three years or so," she said.
As the years go by, Vanessa is no closer to finding a permanent family. Instead she keeps moving and meeting temporary ones.
"It's hard to meet new families, new siblings, and I don't know if they're going to be nice to me or not," she said.
She likes her school. Her favorite class is child development. Vanessa hopes the right family is out there.
"I want them to say, 'That's the person I'm looking for and want in my family,'" she said.
This teenager isn't asking for much, just something she knows she deserves.
"A family that loves and takes care of me," she said. "That's all I want."