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Show Lakeside Area family Community Lakeside Review, Tuesday, July 17, 1990 r par .:!.;IO Becoming treasures county award foster parent isnt hard By JAMES NICKERSON CLEARFIELD Becoming a licensed foster parent isnt hard; in fact, it only takes a few simple Standard Examiner Davis Bureau CLEARFIELD A local couple has received an award that means more to them than any other they could receive. Bryan and Denece Johnson of Clearfield have been named Parents of the Year by the Davis County Family Services division. Carlton and Paula Fortin of Kaysville were the other parents receiving the award. Denece Johnson said its an award that holds a lot of meaning for them, but if she could she would change the name to include family. It means more to me than any award I ever received through high school or steps. According to Susanne Timmerman, foster home facilitator at Davis County Family Services, its a simple process that encourages responsible adults to apply. To be eligible applicants must: Be at least 21 years old; Single, or married at least Co-Fost- er college. one year; Have separate beds for each foster child in house; she said. Have income stable enough not to depend on reimbursement; Fill out application; Allow medical, police, background check and fingerprinting; Complete a minimum of six hours foster training; Pass a home study done by think sometimes my five kids do more than we do, though. We are thinking of getting their names put on I it too because we are a foster family. We plan on being a foster family until they (Family Services) dont like us anymore I guess. We enjoy it so much and our kids do too. Johnson said her familys experience with housing kids started in September Social Services. 1987. There was a domestic disturbance in their neighborhood one day and as a result, two teenagers had no place to live. The Johnsons took them in and Family Services offered them an opportunity to be a licensed foster family shortly after that. They accepted. Johnson said more than 20 foster kids, from 9 months of age to 17 years, have stayed with her family over the years. She said in her experience, she sees the problem as one of parental irresponsibility. "There are a lot of parents who have not been taught to parent, she said. The kids act in a childish manner and the parents react in a childish manner. Many of the parents are adolescents themselves. The courts are into reuniting families, but I think before they do that the parents ought,, to be taught how to be a 13 Timmerman said there is a dire need for foster parents, especially in the Ogden area. Robert takes The Johnson family of Clearfield (from left) Heather, Skyler, Derek, Bryan, Denece and Annika parent. If nothing has changed, the 14; bled foster' children who stay with them. A lot of the foster kids are from small households, she said. So when they come here my kids are fighting over who gets to sleep next to, them or play with them the most. They get a lot all is not pictured. them have never had. Annika, 13; Heather, 10; Derek, 8; and Skyler, 6; play a vital role in helping the trou- foster children of of attention which is something most of problems will still be there when the kids go back to the home. Their children,' Nicole, in We make sure not to ask them any questions about their problems. If they want to talk then sure we listen. I make sure none of the kids I care for talk bad of their parents because that is not constructive. Johnson said she and her family often get attached to the kids. That can make for a lot of sad goodbyes, she said. We dont like the part when we just sit there sad after theyre ReganStandard-Examtne- We need parents for every r age, ages. Nicole A lot of the family can see ' .. of people think they will always get a troubled teenager, but people only get the ages they gone. Sometimes we get to see them again and my kids love that. The Johnsons hang the plaque they were presented in their front room so all she said. want. Foster parents receive an allowance from $9.50 to $15 per day per child, she said. For more information on becoming a foster parent call Family Services at it. According to Johnson, it is a big deal to them. The Johnsons, both from Idaho, were married July 25, 1974 while students at Brigham Young University. He is a truck driver for Roadway Express and Pacific Intermountain Express. She is a homemaker with a teaching degree and a minor in child development. 776-730- 5. The county Family Services is a division of state Social Services. Being foster parents a natural high By JAMES NICKERSON Standard Examiner Davis Bureau KAYSVILLE Being foster parents is a natural high for one Kaysville cou-pl- e. Carlton and Paula Fortin were named Parents of the Year by the Davis County Family Services division recently at a banquet at Dudleys of Co-Fost- er There is such a need for foster parents...people need to realize the need for their help. Paula Fortin Layton. I get a high trying to keep up with the teenagers we care for, said Mrs. Fortin. We just had to let go of two boys, 5 and 6 years old, who had been with us for 14 months. That is the hard part. The Fortins, originally from Maine, have cared for more than 15 foster children, back in Maine and in Utah. Fortin said it all started when she and her husband became disturbed with news reports involving children in Maine. "We would read in the papers about so many abused children all of the time, she said. We felt we just wanted to do whatever we could to help them, so we got involved in foster par- - enting. Fortin said she just wants to provide a home without stress because most of the kids she has cared for have been sexually abused. We try to give the kids a lot of space, she said. Usually I let them talk to me about their problems, but I try not to bring it up. They just need to be somewhere where they are comfortable. I try to win their trust over. I am not there to hurt them, but to listen. Fortin said her daughter Karla is outgoing and helps the foster children feel right at home. Karla approaches them and makes friends right away, she said. Being an only child she hasnt had siblings, so she takes advantage of that. She said some of the teenagers she and her husband have taken in have to be watched constantly. You kind of have to keep an eye on them. They will test you to see how much you will let them get away with, she said. If they sluff school then next time I go with them and they dont like that. Fortin said foster care is so important and more people should get involved. There is such a need for foster parents, especially for teenage girls, she said. People need to realize the need for their help. It is just really neat to be able to share a part of these kids lives. The Fortins were married Feb. 2, 1973 and are both from Maine originally. They came to Utah after becoming members of the LDS Church. She said Utah is not what she expected. I guess we expected everybody in Zion to be.. .well perfect, she admitted. But theyre not. Carlton and Paula Fortin of Kaysville have cared for more than 15 foster children in their role as foster parents. torytelling can weave Rocky Mountain Chautauqua, a public humanities project presented by the Wyoming Chautauqua Society earlier this month. Hull told the audience how his grandfather hypnotized a shark that threatened him by pointing a finger and staring into the sharks By DONNA BROWN Standard Examiner correspondent LAYTON Early Layton settler Elias Adams bore his chest to an angry Indian warrior. wont let you kill my son. Take my life instead, he told the warrior who stood before him waiting to avenge an injury to his pwn young Indian brave. Adams son had wounded the warriors boy in a scuffle in a watermelon patch. The brave was not expected to live. Layton resident Judith Wilson knows her was a brave man with a strong love for his family By the stories shes been told. JI & - It seems Adams had four sons who loved watermelon. He told the boys if they wanted melons they would have to grow it themselves. "I guess those boys tended to the plants all summer, Wilson said. i Just as the melons were becoming ripe on the vines, a group of young Indian braves rode through and started to harass the Old and young alike delight LAYTON Legends of the fact or fiction, Old West children still love to hear about the adventures of early Indian and American settlers from another place in time. Native Utahn Terre Burton delights in traveling with the Rocky Mountain Chautauqua, acting out the stories and sharing them with children all over the Western United States. Earlier this month. Burton visited Layton with Chautauqua. to entertain and teach local children about history and farmers. They completely destroyed all of the watermelons, Wilson said. Adams son, furious at the Indians, picked up a rock and threw it at one of the braves. I guess it laid the boys head wide open. The Indian's father wanted revenge, but was dazzled by Ad-- - in storytelling. guess Ive never considered myself a storyteller, Burton said. Im a mother. Ive just always thought Im doing what mothers do. Burton has raised four children. On a hot afternoon in the cool Layton Commons Park, Burton read her favorite Indian legends to a small audience of parents and children. Mothers sat on the lawn surrounded by picnic baskets and jugs of punch, as absorbed as the children in legends she told. I ams' bravery. He set aside his arms to become best friends with the honorable white man, so the story goes. . Family tales. They are links in. the chain of history that bind generations together. The art of 1 storytelling is prac hearing tales "I dont think theres anyone who doesnt have a love of hearing stories, Burton said. There is such a beautiful connection between the written and spoken word. Burton says half the fun of reading ancient legends is trying to separate fact from fic- ' tion. Clearfield resident Victoria Simms is a Navajo Indian. She doesnt remember the way the stories go, but she remembers how they were lovingly taught See TALES on page 20 ticed by everyone to some degree, says Keith Hull, a professor at the University of Wyoming. In the shade of the large trees in the Layton Commons Park, Hull exchanged family anecdotes with a small circle of locals gathered on the lawn. He came to Layton with the nings sitting around the radio visiting, playing cards and eyes. Did he really hypnotize the shark? Well, I dont know. The tale was probably embellished somewhat, he said. Maybe it started out that he just saw a shark. But it makes for a good talking, or just gossiping over a drink. Thats what life was like, he said. He was entertained by his grandfathers stories and he learned. He learned about history, about his grandfather, and about his grandfathers values. Hull, the father of two grown daughters, says its important to take the time to talk to children. Todays seemingly insignificant events could become tomorrows story. legends. Sometimes I think I tell stories Hull is a native of Wyoming. . to While he was growing up he my daughters to try to make lived with his grandmother and myself somebody to them. I tell them things about myself that grandfather there. I heard stories living with my they might not otherwise know, he said. we grandparents. Thats the way Hull said its okay to add a little said. he our evenings, spent Hull fears future generations will excitement to an otherwise munnot have as many stories to tell dane story. Its right to embet J their children as modern technol- -' lish them, he said. ' , and and free By flow singing the talking, listening ogy prohibits to family members Hull said a exchange, known as conversation. familys heritage can be kept Before television and videos .alive from one generation to Hull said families spent their eve ed - V |