Woman had to give her daughter up for adoption—years later, the kid showed up at her wedding

Giving a baby up for adoption can be a difficult choice for many parents. Jessica Harris, a mom who became pregnant when she was single and newly sober in 2019, had to make such a difficult choice for her baby girl. Harris was living in a one-bedroom apartment in Minnesota with her son, Tristan. She also had to rely on public transport because her license was suspended due to a DWI, per TODAY.com. The mom gave her daughter up for open adoption and got a chance to connect with her over the years and received a wholesome gift on her wedding day.

The baby's father was a professional athlete and the mom had hoped that things would work out for them. But the man told her that she should get an abortion. He was worried that a baby would hurt his career, shared Harris. "It’s so sad, but in the back of my head, I was like, 'Maybe he’ll come around and we’ll be a happy family,'" Harris recounted. However, that was not the case and she had to give her daughter up for adoption. The woman worked with an adoption agency to find the right home for her daughter and picked Kelly and Drew Moyer. The couple had a biracial adoptive son, Graham. The woman's baby was biracial too and all of them wanted an open adoption, where both parties stay in contact and have knowledge about the baby's life. "I felt the Lord shining his light on this family. I had to meet them."

"Kelly would always say, 'Jess, we love you. If you decide to keep your baby, that makes us happy, because we want you to be happy,'" the mom recalled. She was convinced that this was the right family for her little girl. The Moyers were in the delivery room when the woman gave birth to the baby in February 2020. The three of them decided to name the baby girl Sloane and the adoptive parents gave the baby Harris's middle name. "I was pumping for Sloane and would come over with stashes of milk." The mom moved to Florida in 2022 and the family came to visit and reassured her that the distance wouldn't change their relationship. Eventually, when Harris got married in June of 2024, Sloane created a memory of a lifetime with her.

"The fact that they came to my wedding all the way in Mexico, I wasn’t expecting it. I told them I was getting married and the next day I got a call, 'Alright. We’re there.' They want this relationship just as much as I do." Sloane was the flower girl at the wedding. The adoptive mom, Kelly, told the outlet, "Jess is family to us. We wouldn’t have missed it for the world." Harris posted a reel with her daughter on her Instagram, where she goes by @jessicaharrisxo7, and captioned the post, "Open adoptions are based on hope, faith and trust. Trusting your heart, trusting the adoptive families, trusting the birth mom...and most importantly, trusting God." She expressed that she was very grateful for the girl's adoptive parents, who made it possible for her daughter to be at her wedding in such a special way.