Grab your tissues, because this story is surely going to move you to tears! Jason Smith, a former school principal of 14 years, would have never thought that his career would lead him to adopting a child and completing his family.
It was 2015 when he met his daughter, Raven Whitaker-Smith, who was 11 years old at the time. "She was just this sweet looking, little innocent child sitting there, kind of defeated," Jason said in an interview with Good Morning America. She was sitting outside his office waiting to be picked up, having gotten suspended for throwing a cup of yogurt during lunch.
At that time, he asked her if she would ever throw food in a restaurant, to which she replied that she'd never eaten in one. Raven then went on to reveal that she was living in a group home and had bounced around in the foster care system most of her life. The conversation between the two deeply moved Jason. He and his wife had experienced infertility problems, and even gave foster parenting a go but gave it up after siblings they were hoping to adopt and had fostered for almost one year were returned to their biological parents. After opening up to his wife about Raven, though, she knew he was serious.
"This was something that, obviously, he felt pretty passionate about because I'm sure she's not the only kid that he has dealt with who has been in a similar situation," Marybeth Smith said. "So something about Raven was special to him, and obviously I trusted him." They ended up opening their home to Raven as foster parents in June 2015. In November 2017, they formally adopted her.
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Now 20 years old, Raven says she "always knew" they would be her parents, even though initially she thought they were just going to be another temporary home. "It was really weird at first because, in my mind, I thought of [Jason Smith] as the bad guy because I was always getting in trouble. But then for my first weekend visitation, they made me feel extremely welcome, like I was already in the family. They got everything that I needed without even knowing that I would be there forever. They just did it."
