When Tannah Butterfield heard the long-awaited news that her foster parents would finally be able to adopt her and her two younger siblings, she jumped into the messenger’s arms and didn’t let go.
The messenger was Jackie Alexander, the office manager at the 11-year-old’s school in South Jordan, Utah.
The school staffer and the sixth grader have become close over the years. Alexander said Butterfield visits her desk every day.
“I said, ‘You get your forever family, honey,’” Alexander told local news station KSL.
Security cameras captured that moment on Oct. 2 with Butterfield embracing and hanging onto Alexander.
“She’s easy to cling to,” Butterfield told CBS-affiliate KUTV. “My heart was so happy!”
Butterfield’s mom, Jennifer Fisher, said there had been many setbacks in finalizing the adoption but is glad that they persevered.
Seeing the clip made her think, “Oh my gosh, we’ve done the right thing.”
“We just feel like we’re ordinary people that are taking care of three children that we love and want to be part of our family,” she said.
Alexander decided to share the clip on her social media accounts in the wake of the mass shooting in Las Vegas that claimed 58 lives and injured hundreds more.
“I had to let people know that there’s a lot going on in the world, a lot of sadness. But you know what? There’s joy that happens every day,” she said.