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SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – When you think of foster care, many people think of young children, but in Utah, the majority of kids in foster care are teenagers. The odds are stacked against them and time is running out for them to find an adoptive home.
For a young woman with the name of Aria, you could say singing was her destiny.
“Yeah, I’ve been singing since I could talk,” said Aria.
On Wednesday, she got the chance to sing in a professional recording studio.
“This was actually a surprise, but it was a really good surprise,” she said.
She wasn’t expecting the opportunity to create her own demo, but then again, she also wasn’t expecting her life to turn out the way it has.
“I never thought I’d see myself in foster care at 18 years old,” she said.
Aria was born in Haiti and remembers very little about her life on the island.
“I think I remember glimpses of the orphanage,” she said. “I think I remember that it was small and I didn’t have a bed and was laying on the floor.”
Aria said at age four, she was adopted and came to the United States, but it didn’t work out.
“I was really upset for a while,” she said.
She found singing to be therapeutic.
“If I was sad, I would sing to myself,” she said. “Music has always been there when other people weren’t. It’s the one thing I can rely on.”
She knows time is running out for her to find a permanent and loving family.
“It’s really sad to see a lot of these kids age out of foster care,” she said. “They have nobody, and friends will only take you in for so long until they decide they don’t want you anymore.”
Now, she’s hoping that even at 18-years-old, there’s a family out there waiting for her.
“They say it’s never too late for someone to find a family,” she said.
So, for the girl named Aria, her song and her story is just beginning.
“Everyone deserves to be with a permanent family that supports them and will be by their side,” she said.
To learn more about Aria, contact The Utah Adoption Exchange at 801-265-0444 or visit adoptex.org.
