In a heart-felt display of holiday cheer, one 16-year-old Texan is getting a new home and a new parent after his teacher agreed to adopt the wayward student. Anthony Berry, who has been living in foster services since he was a nine-years-old, will be joining Bennie Berry after she taught him English for only a few months at school, USA Today reported.
After spending a sizable portion of his childhood in the Texas foster care system, Anthony had no desire to be adopted by anyone and was forced to leave his foster siblings behind. When Anthony began taking classes taught by Bennie Berry, his English teacher at the Pathways Learning Center school, however, he soon realized he may have found his forever home and new mom.
The child asked Bennie to adopt him only a few months after meeting her during class.
"If you have ever thought about adoption or didn't want to be adopted, actually try it cause you never know," Anthony said about his experience with adoption, according to USA Today. "There is always someone that will love you,” the teen went on to say.
Bonding over homework assignments
The 16-year-old had a change of heart after meeting his teacher, quickly growing close to her and bonding over homework assignments and class lectures. The oldest child to be adopted in Jefferson County, where the courtroom handled some 18 adoptions ranging from less than a year old to 16-years-old, Anthony initially started Bennie Berry with his request.
"Well at first I thought he was making jokes until he actually explained the situation." Bennie recalled, per 12 News. The wise English teacher then made a deal with Anthony; if he finished his assignment, she would consider checking out the adoption website.
Bennie says that looking back on her decision, she doesn’t regret a thing.
The student-teacher, now parent-child combo makes a good pair and were reportedly unable to sleep their first night under the same roof, jittery from the adoption
A new son in her life
“I have a son. I’m more than elated,” Bennie said, per ABC News. “I have a son for the rest of my life.”
5,395 children in total were adopted in Texas in the fiscal year of 2017, according to a press release from the Taylor Morrison Texas Department of Family Services. Adoption rates in Texas have risen over the past few years, up from 3,177 in the fiscal year of 2015, according to government data made available by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
