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SALT LAKE CITY — Children in the Utah foster care system spend an average of 18 months waiting to be adopted. As a child gets older, their chances of adoption diminish rapidly.
This week's Wednesday's Child is a 15-year-old-boy who has been in the system for years, and is hoping to be adopted.
Tyler is a soft-spoken teenage boy, but when he steps onto the dance floor he shines.
"I can just express myself freely; I can just be myself when I dance," he said.
Tyler never imagined he would spend most of his life moving from foster home to foster home. While he feels like life has dealt him a difficult hand, he said it's one he's working to turn into something positive.
Tyler longs for the same things most teenage boys want.
"A room by myself would be amazing," Tyler said.
But what he wants even more than a room of his own is to be adopted and have a family of his own, "so I can settle down and be normal for once," he said.
Tyler thrives at Salt Lake's School for the Performing Arts. He would love to be a part of a family that embraces the arts as well.
For now, he plans to keep on dancing, and to keep on hoping for that forever home.
To learn more about Tyler, and other children hoping to be adopted, contact The Adoption Exchange at 801-265-0444.
