Some stepdads are so good at their job that they get promoted.
Hank Blankenship’s promotion from stepdad to dad was caught on video during a surprise announcement.
Hank, who is deaf, was surprised by his wife Deidre, who is also deaf, with an adoption request from her son Alex and daughter Cassidy.
“A while ago, my daughter came to me with a surprising request. Her name is Cassidy, a beautiful and smart 14-year-old girl. She has requested help in terminating her biological father’s parental rights. You see, Cassidy has suffered mental, verbal and emotional abuse from her biological father for a long time. He repeatedly lies to her and has not provided financial support among many other things,” Deidre explained on her GoFundMe page.
Meanwhile, Hank has loved his two stepchildren in addition to financially supporting them for years.
“From Cassidy’s perspective, she doesn’t even know any of her father’s family members…not one but her older brother that also lives with us, and who also “legally” disowned his biological father at the age of 18 by changing his last name. Their biological father has never been actively involved in their lives, and as a result, they do not have a desire to be a part of his life as well,” Deidre wrote.
The family decided to raise money so that Cassidy could legally make Hank her father.
“This is the man that she has come to know as ‘dad.’ As a result, she wants to do something very special for him. She wants to propose to him to legally adopt her as his own,” Deidre said.
When everything was in place, they sprung the news on Hank. The video of the ordeal shows Deidre asking her husband to come and sit in the middle of the room.
Hank takes a seat but is confused by the request as Cassidy begins to address everyone in the room.
“He has raised me since I was 2-years-old and I really wanted to thank you for that, so thank you,” Cassidy said. “I couldn’t think of a better way to thank him for that than this.”
Cassidy pulled out a big poster board that reads, “Any man can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a dad.”
The poster board was filled with family photos causing Hank to immediately break down in tears.
Hank and Deidre’s two biological children, Savannah and Trey, then come out with matching t-shirts that read: “We want a whole brother and sister, not halves.”
Hank then realized that there was a second part to Cassidy’s declaration of love for her dad.
Cassidy then handed him some paperwork.
As soon as he opened the adoption papers, he began to weep all over again.
“Thank you. I really appreciate it, as you can see I’m crying. I don’t know what to say,” Hank said.
He cried even more tears when Alex handed him his adoption papers too. Hank gave each of his kids great big hugs.
“Not only has he [Hank] worked so hard to provide for us, he has been relentless in ensuring that they walk the right path, teaching them about respect and trustworthiness,” Deidre told StoryTrender. “You can see how much it meant to him, too – Hank almost never cries, but on this day, he was so emotional. It just goes to show, though people may look at deaf people and deem us incapable of doing things that those who hear can do, they are wrong.”
Deidre says she has had friends that were denied the ability to adopt because of their hearing complications. The family was glad to have their story go viral so that myth could be deunked.
Watch the video below to see the heartwarming moment Hank is surprised with the adoption papers!
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