Woman who lost her family gets formally adopted by her deceased mom's former boyfriend

Trigger warning: This story contains themes of suicide that some readers may find distressing.

The passing of a loved one can bring immense grief and a wave of loneliness. In such times, one wants nothing more than the comfort of family. Unfortunately, for a woman named Lynn Lafferty, her life was plagued by death and loss from a young age, per Newsweek. In a post on TikTok (@peachybeachin), the woman shared how she lost precious people in her life, starting with her biological dad. After being left with no one, she drowned in loneliness and felt a need for acceptance and belonging. When no family member was around to fill that void, someone special walked back from memory lane and stepped up for the 37-year-old woman.

Lafferty mentioned that she lost her father to meningitis when she was very young. Her mom remarried, and the then-young girl found a family in her mom, brother, and stepfather Steve. “Steve came into my life while I was still in diapers. I was a little over a year old when mom met him," she recalled. However, the man never adopted her as it was not something her mum wanted. Life went on, but in 2016, Lafferty was hit with a wave of losses. Her mother took her own life after battling with mental illnesses and Lafferty was left alone, once again trying to get out the wallowing grief of death. 

Things kept spiraling downward, and her brother, too, disowned her. “Our relationship was stained after our mom passed because we had differences in opinions about our upbringing,” she mentioned. Left without any immediate family, the woman was broken. She grew up to start a family of her own, but not having a parent to call her own was heartbreaking. That’s when hope stepped up from the past. Steve, her stepdad, made the official decision to adopt 37-year-old Lafferty. As unusual as it seemed, he was willing to fill the void and help her find a place of belonging.

Lafferty’s husband suggested the idea and even helped make it official. “He gave me and my dad a consultation with a lawyer for Christmas in 2016, and he told us we needed to make it official,” she recalled. Sharing a video in gratitude for having the man step up when he didn’t need to, Lafferty mentioned how he had always fulfilled the role of a father. “Though he didn’t adopt me as a kid, he did everything a dad does and more,” she mentioned, along with glimpses of Steve hanging out with little Lafferty at the pool, park, with studies and everything.

“Steve raised me and gave me away,” she said, sharing a picture of her wedding day, as Steve walked her down the aisle. Though a “symbolic gesture,” Lafferty is beyond grateful for being able to legally title Steve as her father. “I can make decisions for and with him as he ages. If anything happens to us, our kids can legally go to him,” she noted. “Sometimes, family isn’t meant to be who we’re born to,” she concluded. @sarahjosilveroli wrote, “To Steve, the one who didn’t have to, but wanted to.” @jlo27916 added, “Steve sounds like a great guy. I’m so glad you had the choice of choosing him as your father.”

You can follow Lynn Lafferty (@peachybeachin) on TikTok for more updates on her life with her husband and her dad.