BROKEN ARROW, Okla. - One Broken Arrow family hopes its foster care success story will encourage others to open their homes to the children who need it most.
Welcoming a new child into the family is one of life's most exciting moments, but in Oklahoma about 9,000 of those children are in DHS custody.
Starrla and Brittny Baldwin say all it takes is love and little bit of luck to change that.
“One of the first things she asked me actually was what kind of car do you drive?” said her mother Brittny.
8-year-old Starrla had been in plenty foster homes before, but this one was different.
“I had already felt like she was my mom," Starrla said.
The two were inseparable.
Starrla, not afraid to show she had a new pep in her step.
“The longer she was with me the more I felt the universe put her in my life for a reason and I feel like I was meant to be her mom," Brittny said.
After a few months it was time for Brittny to make the decision little Starrla had already made.
“Her case worker would tell me, 'You know she said I think my mommy’s going to adopt me.'”
“If you have a big enough heart to do it, you can do it," said Jason Grewe with TFI Family Connections.
The organization handled Starrla's foster care, and currently has 167 kids in Tulsa alone who need homes.
“I truly believe there’s a home for every child.”
Jason says the process isn't a difficult as it seems, and of all of the criteria the most important is an open heart.
“I like that she never quits, she cares about me and she’s sweet," Starrla said of her new mom.
After a year of waiting, Starrla and Brittny are ready to jump into a new life.
One with many more Mother's Days and dropped jaws at Disney Land.
But for today Starrla is mastering the letters that all come together to spell her new beginning.
Learn more about TFI Connections and foster care here.
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