As a Kentucky teacher counts the new students who will be entering his classroom this fall, he’s also counting his blessings, which includes the thriving family of six that became his when he adopted a student and his siblings.
"Our lives are complete," Justin Padgett of Danville, Kentucky, told Fox News Digital.
"We have left it all up to God to put us where we need to be at the right time. I feel fulfilled."
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The journey began during the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2021.
Padgett, who was teaching fifth grade at Highland Elementary School in Lincoln County, Kentucky, was finally able to teach his students in person during the final nine weeks of school.
One of his students, Jayden, had fallen behind on some of his schoolwork — as many kids did during COVID.
"I was helping tutor him, one-on-one with reading and social studies," Padgett said.
"We were just trying to help support his academics. That's when he called me over to his computer one day and just said, ‘I have to be adopted.’"
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The boy had typed the same words on his computer — so Padgett pulled him into the hall to talk.
The fifth grader said that his current foster parents couldn’t adopt him — and his three siblings — and that his birth family had lost their rights.
So he and his siblings had to be adopted, he said — and he hoped it could be done by his teacher.
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"He was nice to me, and he always helps me," Jayden himself told Fox News Digital.
"He was a really loving person, so I just wanted him to love me and my family."
Padgett called Kayden’s foster mom — then went home to speak with his wife, Kasey.
"I said, ‘Hey, I've got a kiddo in my class that needs to be adopted, and he's got three siblings," Padgett said.
"I asked her, ‘What are your thoughts about that? How would you feel about that?’"
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The couple, who married in 2018, had been hoping for a child of their own.
But "that just wasn't in the cards for us," Kasey Padgett said.
She desperately wanted to be a mom, but the doctors told her to give it time.
"I really started praying about it," Kasey Padgett said.
"I thought, ‘There’s got to be a way,'" she added. "I have a couple of friends and family members who are foster parents, and they kept encouraging us and telling us we would be great foster parents."
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The couple started classes to prepare them for fostering a child.
They were near the end of their training and waiting for a home study when Jayden made his plea.
"That really expedited [things]," Justin Padgett said.
In April 2021, they began the process.
"The kids were part of a program called Wendy's Wonderful Kids," Justin Padgett said of The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, a national nonprofit dedicated to finding families for the 140,000-plus children waiting to be adopted from foster care in the U.S.
The foundation played a big role in keeping the four siblings together.
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"We started making connections with their social worker and she kind of vetted us to make sure we knew what we were signing up for. And then we started [the] visits."
The Padgetts started by taking the kids — Jayden, Hailey, Alexis and Jase — to church, where they served as youth leaders.
"We started picking them up in the church van," Justin Padgett said, "and they started going to church with us."
The Padgetts did not share with the kids that they might be adopted.
"Life can happen, and, you know, we could back out or something could change in the court system," said Justin Padgett. "They ended up finding out, but we were already having weekend visits at that point and getting their rooms ready."
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At the end of July 2021, the kids moved in with their new foster family.
"I really liked it because we didn't have to get split up and be with someone else," Alexis, 12, told Fox News Digital.
The Padgetts lived in a small farmhouse when it was just the two of them. So they moved into a three-bedroom house — which they quickly outgrew.
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The family has since moved to Danville, where Justin Padgett now works for the Kentucky School for the Deaf.
The adoption became official on March 3, 2022.
"We're very religious, so we've seen them spiritually grow, which has been amazing for us. They've grown so much," said Justin Padgett.
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The parents said they hope people will think of teenage kids — not just little ones — when considering adoption.
"At that age, they've been through so much trauma — being removed from their home, going through foster care — that they really need special love and attention," Kasey Padgett said.
"And they are going to need resources for mental health, as well as guidance and assistance getting into college or trade school or wherever they go in life," she added.
Kasey Padgett said she and her husband are considering trying to have a child naturally, or adopting another child.
"The doors are open for whatever God has for us," she said.
The Padgetts said they hope their story encourages someone else to consider fostering or adoption — even a teacher.
"It's a calling. You are in place of the parent when [the kids are] at school. You're in charge of keeping them safe, and there are those bonds and connections that form," said Justin Padgett.
"It's very easy for a teacher to segue into being in charge of a kid at school and then possibly being able to take them into foster care or adoption."
