Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

11-year-old finds out she is being adopted in heart-melting video

Her foster parents decided to adopt her and two siblings

Clark Mindock
New York
Wednesday 11 October 2017 20:12 BST
Comments
Eleven-year-old girl's adorable reaction to getting adoption news

Your support helps us to tell the story

Our mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.

Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.

Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.

Head shot of Louise Thomas

Louise Thomas

Editor

An 11-year-old student has received some of the best news of her life, and a video has captured the heartwarming moment.

Tannah Butterfield can be seen jumping into the arms of her school’s office manager, Jackie Alexander, after being told that she was going to be adopted by her foster family. Holding tight to Ms Alexander, Tannah then kicked her legs with joy.

“All that excitement, joy, and happiness that you see in Tannah went right through me,” Ms Alexander later told ABC News. “We could not quit embracing. She just held me tight. It was pure joy at its finest.”

Ms Alexander had been called by Tannah’s foster parents that morning, and was asked to relay the news to the 11-year-old as soon as possible.

The school office manager for the American Heritage school in South Jordan, Utah, said that she’ has known Tannah for nearly two years. During that time, she has developed a bond with the sixth grader.

“She’s just one that I’ve made a little bond with, and it’s lasted,” Ms Alexander said.

Hannah will be adopted by Jen and Jeff Fisher, who had been fostering her for two years at that point. Ms Fisher later said that seeing Tannah’s reaction on the security camera video was priceless.

“We were just shocked,” Ms Fisher said. “I did not expect that from Tannah. It was amazing.”

Tannah will be adopted alongside her siblings, six-year-old Teagun, and two-year-old Tallie.

“We just loved them so much,” Ms Fisher said. “My husband and I had a lot of infertility problems, and we wanted more. This kind of fell on our lap.”

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in