A toddler who was unable to have a traditional adoption due to stay-at-home orders in Florida just received a special celebration to mark the event.
Cars lined the streets on April 18 for 3-year-old Reney just days after her parents, Lynndsey and Jameson Wilson, signed adoption papers. The family had to cancel Reney's original adoption party because of COVID-19, so loved ones and law enforcement assembled a drive-by fleet.
"She loved it," Lynndsey Wilson of Bradenton told "GMA." "She asked, 'Can we do this again tomorrow?'"
"She's so full of sass, energy and love," Lynndsey Wilson added. "You instantly fall in love with her."
The Wilsons have been fostering Reney since she was a newborn. Reney now joins her sister, Alexie, 16, who the Wilsons adopted in 2018.
"The day after Alexie's mom's rights were terminated was the day Reney was born," Lynndsey Wilson said. "We told our agency if she goes into foster care we want her to be placed with us."
Lynndsey Wilson said she and her husband fought for the sisters to be together and at 7 weeks old, Reney came into their care.
One More Child was the organization that licensed the Wilsons as foster parents and helped facilitate the adoptions.
RJ Walters, director of communications at One More Child, said Reney was excited for adoption day after seeing pictures from her sister's court proceedings.
"At first it was a disappointing to know she wasn't going to have her day, but the support from the community rallying around her was more than she could've ever imagined," Walters told "GMA."
The parade took off after Wilson promoted it on her Facebook page, asking fellow foster parents, family and friends to celebrate at a safe distance. Local police and firefighters joined the party as well.
"The community came together," she said. "People wanting to support the amazing-ness of adoption."
