Luke Kissinger, an 11-year-old boy in Arkansas, was formally adopted by his new family in May 2024, and he invited his entire fourth-grade class to be there via Zoom. He wanted his classmates to see what was happening in his life and how much being adopted meant to him, so he told his attorney that having them included was important. The adoption was also many months in the making for Bradley and Cassie Kissinger, who officially became Luke’s parents.
Cassie met Luke in 2023 at an adoption event and the two bonded quickly. She already had two children at home, Aiden (11) and Alena (14), with her husband, but she knew Luke was special to her right away. Talking about the original meeting she said that meeting children who need foster or adoptive parents is often initially awkward, but there wasn’t any of that with Luke. She just jumped right in to help him with activities at the event, and they talked about all kinds of subjects, and they had lunch together.
Since she had always known she wanted to foster or adopt a child if possible, it didn’t take her long to get the process in motion. With her husband and children all on board, she worked with the adoption agency to bring Luke home with a warm welcome. She also had a few words for the people accusing her of using her adopted son for online “clout” by making his story into a big deal or having it go viral.
Her goal, she states, doesn’t have anything to do with that. Instead, she’s happy to draw attention to all the children like Luke who still need loving homes with parents who will take care of them and help them grow up healthy and strong. Her new son is already changing the world by bringing so much awareness to his adoption. He just wanted to share it with his friends and classmates, so they could see his new chapter in life and how happy he was to have a family to call his own.
As part of our adoption services, we represent intended parents in both traditional stepparent adoptions as well as in streamlined stepparent adoptions to confirm parental rights (confirmatory adoptions). To learn more about the adoption process, contact us today!
