Heartbreakingly, there are hundreds of thousands of kids in the United States in foster care, and a severe shortage of capable families willing to permanently adopt them. The situation might even seem hopeless for young kids as they start to get older and become less “desirable” to adopt. But it’s never too late to find your family. That’s the heartwarming message being shared by Leah Paskalides and the daughter she adopted in 2021, then-19-year-old Monyay.

But this is no ordinary adoption story.

At the age of 11, Monyay was placed into a foster care group home. The pain of having to go through life without a family was always difficult, but it hit hard in her senior year of school. “My senior year is when I went through one of those, ‘I don’t want to do it anymore, I’m done,’” she told ABC News.

Monyay finished school a year early and used the extra time to volunteer with foster children like her. But she faced a tough road ahead, as she was about to turn 18 and officially age out of the system.

Children who age out of foster care face multiple challenges

According to the Children’s Home Society of Minnesota, the 23,000 children who age out of foster care every year without families face many challenges. There are very few support systems in place for........

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