Struggling Student Asks A Favorite Teacher If He Will Adopt Her — 'No Amount Of Subbing Or Schooling Prepared Me For This'
“I’ve probably cried more times this weekend than I ever have.”
Jacob Lund | Shutterstock.com Students often feel a special connection to their teachers. For some, educators are the most stable presence in their lives — people who genuinely care about their well-being and who they see every single school day without fail.
One third-grade girl felt this way and made it known, asking her former teacher if he would adopt her after she went through a difficult situation at home.
The struggling young student asked her favorite teacher if he would adopt her after she was removed from her home.
“Last year, I had a wonderful student who was taken away from her home because Mom has a drug problem and Dad wasn’t any better,” the distraught teacher explained on Reddit. “She ended up living with her aunt but due to the long drive she ended up switching schools.”
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Her aunt later found a way to get her to and from her original school, so she returned for the third grade — the same grade her former teacher now teaches, although she is not in his class.
The teacher shared the heartbreaking moment he recently shared with this former student of his.
“On Friday, she came up to me at recess and [said], ‘I was wondering, Mr. D, if you could adopt me?’” he recalled.
The teacher was moved and saddened by the student's question, admitting he didn't know what to do at that moment.
“No amount of any type of training can prepare you for this job,” he said. “It broke me and she was being serious.”
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Unsurprisingly, this teacher is determined to find out more about this situation and help if he can. He provided an update to his original post with his plans.
“Tomorrow, I am speaking with our school counselor to find out how her situation is at her aunt’s house,” he stated. “Maybe there’s more to it and that’s why she asked me to adopt her.”
"I talked to my wife and she was open to looking into helping her if there was something we can do," he added in a comment.
Other teachers shared similar circumstances they had faced.
While this teacher’s situation is sad, it is unfortunately not uncommon. Many teachers replied to the post detailing their own similar experiences.
“I got a Mother’s Day card (handmade) from a kid one time,” a teacher recalled. “Said something like, ‘I know you’re not my real mom, but I feel safe around you and that’s what moms do.’”
“I’ve been asked by kids with broken families if I could adopt them and it’s always heartbreaking,” another user said.
While it certainly extends far beyond a teacher's job description, fostering or adopting students is not unheard of. Several teachers shared that they or someone they knew had been in the same situation before and decided to take the next step.
“I work with a teacher who took in one of our students as her long-term foster child,” one wrote. “Wonderful girl who didn’t deserve what was happening to her, wonderful colleague.”
‘Good Morning America’ told the story of Jenna Riccio, a reading teacher from Connecticut who fostered one of her students, Nate, who needed a loving home. Later, when Nate’s parents’ rights were terminated and Riccio got married, she and her husband adopted the former student.
“This is the best place for Nate to be in and it was a no-brainer,” Riccio said of the adoption.
Most teachers will go their entire careers without having an experience like this. However, some will be called on to show the ultimate measure of love and compassion.
Hopefully, the little girl from this Reddit post is in a good situation with her aunt. But, even if she’s not, at least she has a teacher who cares about her.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer for YourTango who covers entertainment, news and human interest topics.