A gay couple has legally adopted their teenage foster son despite the ongoing pandemic and enduring a house fire last month.
The adoption took place over Zoom, with 80 friends and family witnessing the occasion, and the judge confirming it’s their largest Zoom-adoption to date.
Michael was put into foster homes after his mother died when he was 12; after he’d been through nine different homes in the space of five years. Chad and Paul Beanblossom originally fostered Michael last year and claim they fell in love with the child, despite his “high-risk” status.
“When mic came to us he was labeled a higher risk because he had ran [away] before … but we’ve never saw that kid,” Chad Beanblossom said. “He just kind of came in and took over our hearts. He’s taught us just as much, if not more, than we have him. Our whole world revolves around Michael.”
So the pair were more than pleased than Michael requested the adoption: “We wanted the same thing that he did,” Chad said. “It’s really hard to imagine our life without him.”
Paul already has three biological children, and they’re also grandparents.
Allyson Sayne, family services worker at the Tennessee Department of Children Services told GMA:
“Paul and Chad Beanblossom have been great at advocating for Michael and giving him opportunities that he may have not gotten otherwise. This family had to undergo a tragedy of a house fire a month before Michael’s adoption, but they focused on the fact that they had each other and didn’t let it affect Michael’s adoption.”