Girl, 17, Adopted by Foster Family After Temporary Weekend Stay: ‘I Knew That’s What I Wanted Forever’ (Exclusive)

“I Knew That’s What I Wanted Forever” — Teen Finds a Family After Years in Foster Care

For 17-year-old Tay­lor from Ten­nessee, what began as a sim­ple week­end stay turned into a for­ev­er home and the fam­i­ly she had always dreamed of.

Two years ago, Matt and Karis Leck­ron opened their doors to Tay­lor for what was sup­posed to be a tem­po­rary vis­it. Nei­ther side expect­ed that brief stay to change all of their lives.

“Tay­lor is as much ours now as she was the day she came. She’s just a legal Leck­ron now,” says Karis, smil­ing.

On Novem­ber 4, inside the Ruther­ford Coun­ty Cir­cuit Court, the Leck­ro­ns offi­cial­ly became a fam­i­ly of three. Friends, class­mates, and well-wish­ers filled the court­room, burst­ing into applause as the judge final­ized the adop­tion.

A Journey Full of Hope

Tay­lor had spent more than three years in fos­ter care before her bio­log­i­cal moth­er sur­ren­dered her rights. After months of uncer­tain­ty, the process final­ly moved for­ward — and with­in three weeks of meet­ing their adop­tion spe­cial­ist, every­thing became offi­cial.

Karis calls the expe­ri­ence a “roller coast­er of emo­tions”, explain­ing that there were moments when they didn’t know if adop­tion would even be pos­si­ble. But faith and patience car­ried them through.

“We just had to trust that God was in con­trol of the sit­u­a­tion,” Karis tells PEOPLE. “It’s easy to get dis­cour­aged, but in the end, it’s all worth it.”

A Christmas to Remember

This hol­i­day sea­son feels extra spe­cial for the Leck­ron fam­i­ly.
“After 12 years of mar­riage with­out kids, Christ­mas with Tay­lor will be the best gift we could imag­ine,” Karis says.
For the first time, they’ll cel­e­brate know­ing Tay­lor is offi­cial­ly, and for­ev­er, their daugh­ter.

🎄 “We have some­one to wake us up on Christ­mas morn­ing, all excit­ed,” Karis adds. “This will be our third Christ­mas with Tay­lor — but our first as a for­ev­er fam­i­ly.”