Gay dads adopt teenager over Zoom after he was shuffled from foster home to foster home following his mum’s death
Chad and Paul Beanblossom adopted Michael amid the throes of the coronavirus pandemic. (Screen capture via Good Morning America / abc news)
Not even a global viral pandemic or a house fire could stop these gay dads from becoming new parents as they adopted a 17-year-old who spent five years in the foster care system after his mother passed away.
Chad and Paul Beanblossom of Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, adopted their son Michael, who they had fostered since 2019, over a Zoom call.
As court proceedings juddered to a sudden halt amid the coronavirus pandemic, 80 people – from friends to family to adoption experts – all joined the Beanblossoms on Zoom to witness the moving moment the adoption was formalised.
“The judge mentioned it was the largest Zoom adoption she had done to date,” Chad told Good Morning America on Tuesday (May 18).
Gay dads adopt 17-year-old teen as 80 loved ones watch on over Zoom.
The Beanblossoms have been married for five years, have three biological children and are also grandparents. They’ve fostered a few children before meeting Michael, who entered the system after his mother passed away, and now can’t imagine life without him.
Beaning with pride, the parents told GMA how they’d taken in Michael after he had bounced across nine different foster homes over a span of five years.
“When Mike came to us, he was labelled a higher risk because he had ran [away] before,” Chad explained.
“But we’ve never saw that kid. He just kind of came in and took over our hearts.
He’s taught us just as much, if not more, than we have him. Our whole world revolves around Michael.
“We wanted the same thing that he did,” Chad said, speaking of how Michael himself requested he be formally adopted by the Beanblossoms. “It’s really hard to imagine our life without him.”
Allyson Sayne, a family services worker at the Tennessee Department of Children Services, also gave some background showing just how momentous the adoption process has been for the family.
“Paul and Chad Beanblossom have been great at advocating for Michael and giving him opportunities that he may have not gotten otherwise,” Sayne told the talk show.
“This family had to undergo a tragedy of a house fire a month before Michael’s adoption, but they focused on the fact that they had each other and didn’t let it affect Michael’s adoption.”
And with that, our faith in humanity has been renewed for at least another season.
