A woman who bounced around 23 foster homes after spending six years in care asked her therapist to adopt her - and said it was "fate".<br /><br />Mikaila Hopper, 25, entered the foster system in 2010, aged 12, and was placed with 23 different sets of foster families over the years.<br /><br />When she first went into care, Deborah Harris, 46, became her therapist and advocated for the reunification of Mikaila and her family.<br /><br />After eight months, Mikaila was moved from her first foster home in Cleveland County, North Carolina, to Boone, North Carolina, US, after her foster mum was diagnosed with cancer.<br /><br />From then, Mikaila and Deborah's relationship grew stronger as her therapist took on a mentor role and continued to support her.<br /><br />Unfortunately, Mikaila ended up continuously moving around foster homes - through no fault of her own - until Deborah applied to be a foster mum in 2015.<br /><br />In 2017, Mikaila "aged out" of the foster care system and asked Deborah to officially adopt her - with the adoption finalised in October 2017.<br /><br />Mikaila, a family recruitment specialist, from Charlotte, North Carolina, US, said: "Deborah went along the journey with me.<br /><br />"We got really close - her passion was to help people.<br /><br />"Deborah ended up being that mentor and that connection for me. I was isolated with no support - but she was that for me.<br /><br />"Before the adoption was even finalised, Deborah vested so much into me.<br /><br />"No paper could finalise what we had but it gave me a sense of freedom in the sense that I was no longer tied to my biological family."<br /><br />Deborah added: "I didn't know that Mikaila had consent to be adopted.<br /><br />"She had gone through the process without me knowing and gave me the adoption papers on Mother's Day.<br /><br />"I was so shocked, I could now take the second step to legally adopt her.<br /><br />"I now have a daughter who is a close friend, it has been wonderful and I wouldn't trade it in for anything."<br /><br />Mikaila said her biological family were unable to look after her.<br /><br />She said: "From the age of nine to 12 I was in kinship care - where a child is looked after by different members of her family." <br /><br />When she entered the foster care system, Mikaila met Deborah who became her therapist.<br /><br />Deborah was advocating for Mikaila to be reunited with her biological family, but it didn't happen.<br /><br />After eight months, Mikaila was moved out of town after her foster mum was diagnosed with and later died of cancer.<br /><br />Mikaila said: "I was strung out longer and longer in the foster care system.<br /><br />"I had 23 sets of foster families. <br /><br />"The move was very difficult for me - I was two hours away from my biological siblings.<br /><br />"I was away from my friends that I had made, and I was two hours away from my foster family that I invested a year of my life in.<br /><br />"Deborah ended up being that mentor I needed, whenever I felt isolated and had no support, she was always there for me."<br /><br />Right before her 17th birthday in 2015, Deborah applied to become a foster parent and take care of Mikaila.<br /><br />After a legal battle, Mikaila moved in with Deborah and started the next chapter of her life.<br /><br />Mikaila said: "I opened up to my social workers about the connection I had made with Deborah.<br /><br />"They ended up reaching out to her and told Deborah how I had missed her, and I was thinking about it.<br /><br />"That is when Deborah reached out to my social workers and asked permission to contact me - which they approved.<br /><br />"That's why I think Deborah played such an important role in my life.<br /><br />"With all those failed connections, I could always rely on my connection with her."<br /><br />Deborah then filed paperwork to become Mikaila's foster mum in January 2015.<br /><br />On Mother's Day in 2017, Mikaila surprised Deborah by handing her adoption papers and asked her to adopt her.<br /><br />Deborah said yes and became Mikaila's mum in October 2017.<br /><br />Mikaila said: "Before the adoption was even finalised, my mum [Deborah] invested so much time into me.<br /><br />"We both cried when I handed her the papers.<br /><br />"I am 25 now, that is how long it has taken me to come full circle and share everything.<br /><br />"She has never been any different - she is an amazing person, an amazing mum, a grandmother to my kids and supportive of my husband - her family has taken us in.<br /><br />"Even if my birth mum was standing in front of me, I would have love for her, but she would never have the feeling to me that Deborah has.<br /><br />"It was almost like a rebirth, the fight that we went through to be together and the pain and suffering we overcome was immense."
