9-year-old adopted after 7 years waiting in foster care
A 9-year-old boy who spent more than seven years in different foster care homes has now found a forever home.
Elijah Mays was adopted in January by Mandi and Jon Mays of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The Mays family had been fostering Elijah since 2016 and in 2019, the couple adopted another little boy, Judah, 7.
"These two kids just fit really well in our family," Mandi Mays told "Good Morning America." "We decided that adoption was the completing piece."
"He's just fun to be around," Mays said of Elijah. "He's a wealth of random knowledge ... he can tell you every Marvel movie from beginning to end."
Mays said her home was Elijah's sixth and he had been in the foster care system since he was a toddler. At first, Elijah had some behavioral issues, though he later had a positive turnaround.
"When you are in your sixth placement since 2-and-a-half years young, your [mindset] is, 'Do not attach to these people,'" Mays said.
"By first grade he was straight-A student, he got an award and he just turned a corner," she added. "I think it was, 'Wow. These people gave me a chance for a really long time and I'm going to be OK.'"
On Jan. 22, after 2,710 days of waiting, Elijah was officially adopted. He joins his now siblings, Judah and the Mays' biological children, Harper, 16 and Dalton, 13.
Afterward, Elijah was invited to meet Kevin Sitt, governor of Oklahoma, to share his own dreams to become a politician someday.
"He wants to be governor first and then president," Mays said of her son.
Michael Danielson is the permanency planning supervisor of Department of Human Services in Oklahoma who dealt with Elijah's case.
Danielson told "GMA" that the Mays family promised to stick with Elijah no matter his circumstances.
"He did have behavioral issues at first but the stability they gave him was exactly what he needed to recover from all the trauma he had been through," Danielson said. "They were the perfect family for him. It's one of those rare, dream-come-true homes."
After his adoption, family and friends held a pandemic-friendly, curbside celebration where some of Elijah's classmates drove by to congratulate him, including Spider-Man.
Mays said Elijah's favorite movie is "Avengers" and when he was able to choose his middle name upon adoption proceedings, Elijah chose the name Stark, after Tony Stark -- the character who becomes the super hero Iron Man.
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