CCS Foster Care program allows three to receive diplomas

IC photo by Christine Young

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Maung Than Htay (right), a refugee from Myanmar (Burma), receives a Certificate of Graduation after graduating from Cyprus High School from Patrick Arp, CCS foster care case manager; Buu Diep, refugee foster care coordinator; and Patricia Paez, foster care case manager.

SALT LAKE CITY - The Catholic Community Services (CCS) Foster Care program honored three high school graduates during a celebration held at Blessed Sacrament Parish June 5 that also honored all 43 other refugee foster care children.

"As refugees, many of our students have gone through tremendous circumstances to get to the United States," said Buu Diep, refugee foster care coordinator, who also was a refugee foster child. "It is amazing to see these children welcomed into new families, learn English and graduate from school with their American peers."

Diep was born in Vietnam and escaped to the United States in the early 1980s when she was 14 years old. "I came by myself with the boat people in 1979," said Diep. "I was in a refugee camp before being adopted by a Catholic family from Utah. Five years later I sponsored my family to come to the United States. When I first escaped I thought, ‘Oh, no rules, I can do whatever I want,' and then I realized I could not return home. I really didn't know what was going on because my parents made all the arrangements. They told me I was going fishing with a whole bunch of people. We had to stay on the boat for a long time before being placed because the refugee camps were full."

Diep graduated from Olympus High School, then earned a bachelor's degree in sociology and a master's degree in social work and criminology from the University of Utah.

"When I first arrived I was put in the CCS Foster Care program, and that is why I love this program," said Diep. The program was available during the 1970s and 1980s, then discontinued until Diep was asked to reopen it in 2007. "Utah is unique in that a lot of families step up and want to foster kids and are willing to take a group of siblings," she said. "A lot of other states do not have that option. We don't separate siblings because they only have each other. It is our goal to reunite the children with their families after they have graduated. However, a lot of the children come as orphans either through separation from the journey or their parents are deceased. I encourage the kids to go to school and get an education."

Diep said she is proud of the three who graduated from high school because they have been in the United States for two years or less and have completed their four-year requirements. "They have worked so hard and are motivated," said Diep.

Mohamed Ali, 18, graduated from Horizonte High School. He escaped from Somalia and went to a refugee camp in Asia before coming to Utah a year and a half ago. "There has been fighting in my country and many civil wars for over 18 years, so I had to leave," he said. "My father died, but my mother is still there."

Maung Than Htay and Khop Ngo Thang are both 18, refugees from Myanmar (Burma) and graduates of Cyprus High School. Htay escaped from his country when he was 16, to go to a refugee camp in Malaysia. Thang left Burma when he was 16 with his brother. They were put in prison in Thailand and had to pay $1,700 Ringgits (Malaysian currency) to get out so they could go to a Malaysian refugee camp, where they stayed for three months before being adopted into a foster home. His brother is now in Oklahoma.

Htay and Thang will both attend Salt Lake Community College in the fall and both like math.

The three graduates told their stories of how they escaped, the difficulties they have had not knowing English when they first arrived and encouraged the other foster children to work hard to get an education. "I am so excited to graduate. I never imagined I could do it, said Htay. "And you can do it, too."