The heartwarming moment a young girl was told she was going to be adopted by her foster parents has brought thousands of viewers to tears.
On her birthday, the foster parents filmed themselves telling their daughter she had one more gift in a box. The little girl pulled out a frame and said out loud: “I’m going to be adopted?” after which she immediately broke down in tears.
Her mum, Paige Zezulka, nodded at her daughter and reached over to hug her, while also sobbing.
“This will be my favourite video I ever share,” Paige wrote on Facebook on Friday 24 August. “This was the day we told our daughter that we were going to be able to adopt her (and her brother and sister).”
What followed was a series of hugs, tears, “I love yous” and sweet words.
Paige explained that her daughter had been praying to be adopted in the years she has spent in foster care. She and her partner had gone through the motions to adopt her, and found out it had all gone through on her birthday.
The next day, they decided to tell her by writing it down and putting it in a surprise box as an additional birthday present.
The timing couldn’t have been more perfect.
“Our kids spent 1,128 days in foster care, over three years,” Paige continued. “It is so hard on children to live in such uncertainty.
“Adoption is amazing and we want others to know that adopting older children and sibling groups can be the most beautiful adventure you could ever have.”
Since the video was shared, it has had more than four million views and had more than 13,000 comments to date. Thousands of people commented on the video saying it had brought them to tears.
Many families shared their own stories of adoption. “This really hit me in the feels,” one woman wrote. “I adopted my daughter 16 years ago and it gives me goosebumps thinking of how happy she was when we told her. You are all amazing.”
Another woman commented: “As an adopted child myself, I couldn’t agree more. Anyone could have a child... not everyone could be a parent! You have given this girl everything she could have wanted... a family.”