Utah foster parents honored
The two teenage girls now living with her are Nos. 155 and 156.
"Foster care is a great thing," said Sexton, 86, of Salt Lake City. "Down through the years, I think the children have done just as much for me as I've done for them."
Sexton and her late husband, Henry, were among the foster/adoptive parents honored by Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker on Thursday in celebration of National Foster Care Month.
"All youths in foster care need a lifelong connection to a caring adult," Becker said during the brief ceremony on the steps of the Salt Lake City-County Building.
Without those strong relationships, abused and neglected children too often end up alone facing challenges such as homelessness, poverty, poor health, unemployment and incarceration, he said.
"Children are capable of overcoming the repercussions of past abuse and neglect when people like the families we are honoring today come forward to care for our community's most vulnerable children," Becker said.
The mayor also issued a call to families in and around Salt Lake City to consider becoming foster parents, saying the city faces a shortage of people willing to take in children who have nowhere else to go in times of family crisis.
About 2,600 Utah children are in foster care because their families are in crisis and are unable to provide for their well-being, said Kelly Peterson, CEO of the Utah Foster Care Foundation.
The four families honored Thursday represent nearly 1,300 across the state who are serving foster children.
"We're truly blessed to have them in our lives," Peterson said. "They really are the unsung heroes."
Also honored were Gea McCloy and her late husband, Wally, of Riverton; Emily Lillie and her late husband, Ralph, of South Jordan; and Lynne and Steven Cuff of Sandy.
The McCloys have cared for nearly 300 foster children over the past 30 years. Their legacy of serving children has been passed on to those who've been in their care, as some of them are now foster/adoptive parents.
The Lillies first became foster parents about 43 years ago and have cared for more than 80 children. Now a widow, Emily Lillie continues to serve as a foster parent. One of the children in her care is being adopted by the Lillies' adult daughter, she said.
"Forty-three years is a long time but not quite long enough," Emily Lillie said. "I guess I'll do it a little longer."
The Cuffs are retiring as foster parents after 42 years, many of those spent caring for children with special needs.
"We have had the most awesome kids in our home," Lynne Cuff said. "We've been able to adopt nine, and it's been wonderful."
The Utah Foster Care Foundation is a nonprofit organization that works with the Utah Division of Child and Family Services to find, educate and nurture families to meet the needs of children in foster care.
For more information on foster parenting, visit www.utahfostercare.org.
E-mail: jpage@desnews.com
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