WASHINGTON CITY – Youth from Colorado City are currently looking for host families while they continue their education away from the Polygamist sect where they were raised.
Safety Net Case Manager Jean Goode said an open house will be held this Thursday, November 10, from 5 to 7 p.m. for families who might be interested in hosting a child. The event will be held at Cottontown Village, 41 N. 300 West, in Washington.
“It’s like a student exchange [program],” Goode said.
The major difference, however, is that these students “oftentimes have major conflicts with the way their parents are thinking and believing, and what they want for themselves.”
“Colorado City has strong religious viewpoints and oftentimes their kids don’t agree with them,” Goode said.
Goode said that although their parents are still responsible for them, the youth choose to leave Colorado City to be educated in St. George, and need families to stay with.
The typical age for these students is 15-years-old though Goode said they have had children as young as 14.
“They generally have older siblings in St. George so they already know a little bit about it,” she said.
The meeting is an invitation for people interested in being a host family to come and meet other host families.
“It’s an informal thing,” she said.
Goode said that to become a host family, volunteers will have to pass a criminal background check.
“We do a home assessment and background check,” she said. “We try to do what we can to make sure the kids are in a safe situation. I’m a case manager with Safety Net so I follow up while they’re there.”
Safety Net was created by the Utah Office of the Attorney General in 2003 and holds meetings in St. George, Colorado City and Creston, British Columbia.
For more information, call Goode at 435-313-0034.
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2011, all rights reserved.
I pray every day that these poor children will be saved from the hell they are trying to survive.