Wednesday’s Child: CeCe Would ‘Light Up Like A Christmas Tree’ If She Were Adopted

SANDY, Utah – When you think of children living in foster care, you often think of very young children – but the reality is most of the kids in state custody are teenagers.

They in desperate need of support and a loving family.

This week’s Wednesday’s Child is 17-year-old Celest, although she prefers to go by CeCe. She feels most comfortable around cars and motorbikes, so she spent the day at K1 Racing in the Sandy for a little fun.

CeCe is a whiz behind the wheel.

“I love working under the hood,” she said with a smile. “I like to dive things like dirt bikes, ATVs, basically anything that has wheel on it.”

She may love going fast and learns quickly, but not everything comes as easy.

“I’m not scared, I’m just shaking a lot,” she said nervously as she sat for her interview.

In life, there aren’t any instructions.

“It’s like a roller coaster going up and down right now,” she said.

The roller coaster of events for the teen comes with a start date.

“It was June 6 of 2016,” she said.

That is a date burned into her memory because it’s the day CeCe entered foster care.

“(Growing up) I couldn’t be a child,” she explained. “I didn’t have a childhood and I don’t know what being a kid is really like.”

That’s why Wednesday was so special for her. She had a chance to laugh and just have fun.

However, the teen who doesn’t bat an eye at quick turns is afraid of something.

“Apparently, if you enter the foster care system, people think you’re unstable and it’s a nobody-really-wants-you kind of thing,” she said.

CeCe is worried she will never get adopted.

“Yeah, that’s the feeling I have,” she said.

It’s a feeling she’s trying to shake.

“I want a family where there are parents and they want me as their daughter,” she said.

CeCe is holding on to hope that day will come and when it does she says it will be one of the happiest days of her life.

“I would probably light up like a Christmas tree and then probably break down because it’s the first time there was a connection where someone actually wants me,” she said.

To learn more about CeCe or the many other children living in the Utah foster care system, contact the Utah Adoption Exchange at 801-265-0444 or at www.adoptex.org