Michael Clark Jr.'s Kindergarten Class at His Adoption Will Warm Your Heart
These photos of kindergarteners with red hearts at the adoption hearing will fill your heart with joy.
Michael Clark Jr.'s adoption hearing on Thursday, Dec. 5 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, was bound to be one he'd never forget. His adoptive parents, Andrea Melvin and Dave Eaton, had been fostering him for about a year, and were eager to welcome him into the family forever. But Michael's day was extra special because he had his entire kindergarten class with him at the Kent County court house, waving red hearts on wooden sticks to cheer him on.
Probably the cutest story you will ever see. A kid who's being adopted invited his ENTIRE kindergarten class to attend his adoption. @wzzm13 pic.twitter.com/tb9WC4tjVO
— James Starks (@_JamesStarks) December 5, 2019
Michael was one of nearly 40 kids to be legally adopted on Adoption Day at the Kent County court house on Thursday, but he was the only one with rows of his classmates behind him. It was Michael's teacher, Kerry McKee, who first floated the idea of bringing the entire class to his adoption hearing. "We began the school year as a family," McKee told a local ABC News affiliate. "Family doesn't have to be DNA, because family is support and love."
But it was, of course, Michael's choice to invite his entire class. "We asked him and he said, 'You know, the class is kind of my family,'" Eaton told the local NBC News affiliate. "He wanted them to be there.'"
Eaton also told CNN that the judge—who had never hosted a kindergarten class in her courtroom before—asked Michael's classmates to explain what Michael means to them, and they got up and said things like "I love Michael" or "Michael's my best friend."
Michael's classmates supporting his adoption. @wzzm13 pic.twitter.com/4wUFiE9bAC
— James Starks (@_JamesStarks) December 5, 2019
Kent County shared a photo of Michael at his adoption hearing with his classmates in the background on Thursday, and it went viral, receiving more than 115,000 shares in just one day.
"This is beautiful!" one Facebook user wrote. "What an incredible community this boy will be part of!"
"Those tiny faces peeking over," another Facebook user wrote. "Too cute!" We couldn't agree more!
