Little Boy Left Speechless After Getting The Best News — 'I'm Your Dad Now'
A heartwarming moment for both of them.
Annie Spratt and Jessica Rockowitz via Unsplash / Hartono via Canva Growing up in supportive and loving environments is pivotal for children's growth. Role models, coaches and parents are just some of the people that can change the course of their lives forever. Blended families, or nontraditional families like stepfamilies, can help foster an environment like the above for children. Being that 40% of married couples with children are “step couples” with children from other relationships, it’s not entirely uncommon for children to have new role models or even official parents step into their lives.
While each circumstance is drastically different, this one TikTok video shows the heartwarming moment a child realized he’d officially been adopted by his stepfather, solidifying an official label for the relationship this father and son had been cultivating for years.
This father surprises his stepson with the news that his adoption is official.
In the heartwarming story from a family in Sacramento, California, 7-year-old Jameson is shown on camera playing in his family’s pool. His stepfather jumps into the pool and with his mother secretly recording, the video captures the sweet moment the man breaks the news.
“I’m your dad now,” he says before being thrown into a hug by the boy. With emotional tears from all three of them, the new family soaks in the moment they’d been fighting to have for years.
It’s clear that the loving bond between this father and son goes beyond any official adoption labels or processes.
After dating his mother for over five years, this father had an incredibly strong bond with Jameson, stepping in as a father figure just a few months in. He not only stepped in as a role model for Jameson, but truly stepped up in every aspect of his life — whether that meant learning to swim, holding him on his mother’s wedding day or transforming into Santa Claus to ensure holidays were special.
After petitioning the courts to become Jameson’s legal father, the adoption process was long and strenuous — over two years of court visits, endless paperwork and fees. However, the end result of the adoption process was an official label that was completely separate from the love the two shared. While important for many logistical reasons, the father and son duo remained as strong as ever, continuing to cultivate their bond even throughout the long process.
All in all, the adoption process to become Jameson’s legal father was all worth it in the end. The two embraced in an emotional hug after he was able to share the official news of the adoption with his son.
While this family’s adoption story had a happy ending, oftentimes many do not.
While this story captured the wholesome side of making a blended family official, there are many situations where a family's adoption process is far from easy. A Quora post from September 2022 outlines exactly that, a situation where the stepson’s biological parents were in prison and the lawyer fees for the process were too expensive to afford.
While success stories like Jameson’s provide a sliver of hope, it’s difficult to ignore depictions like the above that capture the reality of the process for many. Inherently flawed, the adoption process and institution are known to be unjust and discriminatory to “non-traditional” families across the country. From Queer couples to POC families to single parents in a second marriage, the adoption process is more than just emotionally exhausting and expensive, it can sometimes be impossible.
While many, even most, seek to solidify an official label to capture a loving relationship, there are logistical hurdles that also might fuel the need to go through the process. Decisions about education, healthcare, and naming can all be high-stakes and emotionally difficult roots to beginning the adoption process.
Financial burdens and sensitive family dynamics can make adoption impossible for some families.
While slightly more feasible than traditional adoption fees, the average $2500 cost to adopt a stepchild in the United States remains an insurmountable barrier to many families looking to make things official. With the vulnerabilities that many parents and families face within the justice system, being able to afford an experienced adoption attorney is almost mandatory to ensure finalizing the adoption happens properly. Especially if you’re making the label official for a more logistical reason, ensuring the process is done correctly can help to alleviate more stress and financial burden on the back end.
To make matters more difficult, the added costs that arise from the adoption process and lawyer are only one layer to the fiscal responsibilities of many families. Oftentimes, families must also sacrifice their time, as the process can take anywhere from two months to four years. Missing work, needing childcare and paying for transportation are luxuries only some families can afford.
Being able to celebrate success stories like Jameson’s above is so important — it gives everyone a space for hope, while also being able to recognize and fuel change in more exclusionary areas of the process at large. If you’re in the process of adoption or are considering it — there are several resources available to help you.
Zayda Slabbekoorn is a news and entertainment writer at YourTango focusing on pop culture analysis and human interest stories. Catch up with them on Instagram or TikTok.