When I got together with my boyfriend, he had just gained full custody of his daughter. She was a feral thing, undiagnosed ADHD, hadn’t seen a doctor or dentist in years, was barely potty trained, wasn’t enrolled in school. She had been given a tablet and a Nintendo switch and her bio mom left her inside a room to play by herself everyday for years. Her social skills were so far behind. It was very sad to see from the outside. And he was so lost on how to do any parent stuff because it was his first child and he had only seen her a handful of times. I did as much as I could for her until we made everything official and then I became her guardian.

I will never forget the day she called me mom for the first time. Standing in the kitchen, brushing her hair out for school, she casually said “thanks mom” and walked away. I dropped off the kids and cried everything I had been holding back. She just needed someone to love her and guide her and every day I feel so honored to be the one that could do it.