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Author's Note: Each week, KSL brings you the stories of children living in foster care right here in our own communities. These kids need our help, and the opportunity to find a permanent home.SALT LAKE CITY — There are hundreds of children living in Utah who don't have a family or a home to call their own. They're growing up in foster care and need our help to find permanent placement.
One of these children is Tyler. He's a 10-year-old boy who feels most at ease in a saddle.
"I like how you can make it go as fast as you want," said Tyler. "You get to control where you want it to go."
He knows what's needed to take good care of a horse.
"Cowboy boots, cowboy clothes and a cowboy hat," he said.
But what he really needs is someone to take good care of him. Tyler has moved around in the Utah foster care system for two years.
"He has been through a lot of really hard things and he's learning to deal with those things," said Deanna Bigelow, Tyler's caseworker.
Tyler doesn't have a lot of friends at school.
"I think he has a better connection with animals than with people sometimes," Bigelow said.
He would love to be adopted by a family that loves animals as much as he does. Tyler dreams of living on a ranch and doesn't shy away from the possibility of hard work.
"As long as my shoes don't get dirty," Tyler said.
The fifth-grader is active. He loves recess, Legos and is already thinking about his future, and of course it involves horses.
"I want to be a police officer that rides horses," he said.
He's remaining hopeful that the right family is out there and admits he has one important requirement.
"(I want) them to care about me," he said.
"He deserves a loving family," Bigelow said, a family that can be caring and understanding to a little cowboy searching for a place to hang his hat forever.
