ARKANSAS (KFSM) -- Twelve-year-old Hailee has been in foster care for half of her life and she's hoping she will soon find a family to call her own.
There's one thing Hailee hopes her new family will have, and that's pets. She's in love with furry creatures! Hailee enjoys all sizes of dogs and cats and she would love to have one to call her own as long she can name them whatever she wants. "If it was a boy, it would be Max. A girl, it would be Lily," Hailee told us.
Not only does she love animals, but she loves to play the clarinet, which is a new hobby of hers. The fun 5th grader said that math is her favorite subject in school and that she enjoys working with numbers. She also enjoys playing outside and doing what any normal 12-year-old girl loves to do.
When Hailee was just six-years-old, her life was changed forever. She said she doesn't remember her parents, or the day they placed her into the foster care system. "I was in foster care since I was six. And I'm 12 now, so I've been in it for six years." Hailee said its been a difficult time, but this strong girl tries to make the best out of the situation. "Foster care is a nice place where they try to help kids. It's like you get to be with your mom, but you're not actually with your mom," Hailee said.
If your family is interested in adopting or fostering, a background check will first be completed. Then comes an in-home meeting with the family to do a brief walk through assessment of the home. Training classes are then conducted for the family to learn more about the adoption process. The safe home study is the final step.
After all the training, families can take a child into their homes to live. The child must live with the adopted family for at least six months before the adoption is finalized. The entire adoption process from start to finish takes about one year.
If you would like to be a foster parent, DHS is always on the look out to place kids in temporary homes until they're reunited with their family.
To learn more about adopting or fostering a child, CLICK HERE.