Utah Kids Belong

Effective January 1, 2024 — America’s Kids Belong has made a business decision to close our Utah Kids Belong chapter, as conditions in the state do not align with the key strategic priorities we’ve defined as essential to effectively serve kids and families involved in foster care. We are not accepting applications for new Foster Friendly businesses.


Why Foster Families Need Foster Friendly Communities

My husband and I have five children currently in our home. 

I got a text from a local DCS office asking us to take in a very large sibling set in the middle of the night. I couldn’t get the picture out of my head of these kids being separated. I just put myself in their shoes, and after that, I couldn’t say no. 

So we said “Yes.” It was super late at night, We were unsure how in the world we were going to manage it.

We did a real life trust fall, hoping that our community would say YES right alongside us.

Caring for Kids In Foster Care Is Responsibility We All Share

It’s impossible to understate the effect on a child of aging out of foster care without a family…and on the adult they will become.
The lifelong adverse effects are wide-ranging and staggering. Foster care is a “root cause” of many of society’s deepest social wounds.

Foster care often leads to other long-term social wounds

Behind these worrisome outcomes are hurting, vulnerable kids, who as young adults find themselves in hard places through no fault of their own. Every one of these kids has a name, a story, hopes and dreams–most of which will remain unfulfilled if no one stands in the gap to provide a stable home environment and family.

The challenges of today’s foster care system ripple into the vitality of our communities as a whole. Every child who ages out of foster care without a family will incur an average of $300,000 in social services over his or her lifetime. And that’s just the tangible cost.

What is the impact when kids age out of foster care without connection to a family?

26,000 kids

Age out of the U.S. foster
care system each year

x
$300,000

Lifetime social-service cost
per child

=
$7.8B

Source: Annie E. Casey Foundation

Here’s How We’re Creating Sustainable Change In Foster Care

Utah Kids Belong is part of the America’s Kids Belong family, a nonprofit committed to dramatically improving the experiences and outcomes of kids in foster care.

family recruitment

Foster Family Recruitment

A family for every child

Community Engagement

Community Engagement

A Foster Friendly community for every family

Sustainable Change

Coalition for Change

Hope for foster care in every community