A young girl has been adopted by her former teacher in a “real-life Matilda” story.
Loralie Henry, 9, has spent more than half of her life in foster care in Los Angeles, California, in the US.
She was first put into foster care when she was four before briefly going back to her biological mum and returning to the system aged six.
At age five she returned to live with her biological mum but by the time she was six she was back in foster care.
Now, after spending 1,445 days in care, Loralie has been adopted by one of her former teachers in a story straight out the pages of the Roald Dahl classic.
Telling KABC-TV about her experience, Loralie said being in foster care has been ‘really scary’.
‘I didn’t know what to expect in other homes or what they would feed me,’ she said.
‘I didn’t really know what to do. So I thought, “Well, what should I do? Is there anyone waiting for me?” I was really scared.
‘Until I met my mum. My second-grade teacher.’
Loralie added: ‘I remember the moment when we were sitting by the car, she’s like, “You’re going to come with me.”
Zoe Henry is a teacher and didn’t have any plans to adopt.
The single mum says the moment she saw Loralie two years ago she knew she wanted to adopt her.
She added to KABC : “She came into my class, and I just took one look at her – her little freckles, her little birthmark.
“I am going to adopt this little girl. She’s my daughter. The minute I set eyes on her.”
Zoe thought the little girl would get adopted by another family, but when that didn’t happen she begged social workers to let her adopt.
Loralie went to Zoe’s house two days later.
The teacher said Loralie had faced a lot of obstacles but she was a ‘brave and strong’ little girl.
‘She is probably the most compassionate person I know. She wants to be a foster mum someday and adopt kids,’ Zoe added.
On November 20, National Adoption Day in the US, Loralie was one of 165 children to officially leave the care of L.A. authorities and be adopted by their forever families.
‘Biological parents have the right to contest. That did not happen. I know her mum really loves her. I know she really wanted to be a better part of her life,’ Zoe said.
‘But like I tell Loralie, her mum loved her so much that she would let her be adopted so that I can give her what she needed.’
Source:metro.co.uk, mirror.co.uk
