Get Ready To Ugly Cry, Because Davion Only Finally Found A Family To Adopt Him

churchIn October 2013, 15-year-old Davion Only became famous when his impassioned public plea for someone to adopt him started to go viral. It has been a long road with false starts and short-lived family placements since then, but this heartbreaking story is finally getting a happy ending, because Only is going to be adopted, and his new mother is the adoption case worker who has known him since he was seven.

A year and a half ago, Only became famous when he stood up in front of the congregation at his church in St. Petersburg, Fla., and asked for a family. He said:

“I’ll take anyone. Old or young, dad or mom, black, white, purple. I don’t care. And I would be really appreciative. The best I could be.”

Only’s story was heartbreaking. He had been in the foster system since he was a baby, and he had just learned that his mother–who had been in prison since he was a baby–had died. Only’s story got a lot of attention, and 10,000 people reportedly reached out about adopting him. Not many of those people were prepared for the reality of adopting, though, and it seemed like Only was going to turn 18 without ever being adopted.

Adoption case worker Connie Going had known Only since he was seven years old and had been his case worker for nearly a decade. She said that during that time, every year he would ask her if she would adopt him. She thought about it, but told Yahoo Parenting that she thought she was not the best family for him.

”I always believed there was a better family than us out there,” Going said. ”He deserves so much in this world.”

But this year when he asked, she said it felt different.

 ”In adoption there is a ”˜claiming moment,’ when you know [someone is] your child. When he called me to ask, in that moment, I just knew,” she said. ”When he asked me, my heart felt this ache and I just knew he was my son.”

Only’s adoption is expected to go through on April 22, and Going does not have the rose-tinted view of adoption that most of the 10,000 people who inquired about Davion probably did. She’s been doing this a long time, and her youngest son–14-year-old Taylor–was also adopted from the foster system. A family therapist sees Going, Only, and Going’s other children together and individually twice a week. Going is going into the adoption knowing that it won’t be easy, but she says they are a family and that means forever, good or bad.

”I’m okay with messy and difficult,” Going told the Tampa Bay Times. “You just have to have your armor on all the time, but it’s more than worth it. And every day things get a little bit better.”

Oh no, someone has been in my office and is cutting onions again.

Photo: Shutterstock

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