The moving poem that Lauren included among the adoption papers to her new dad

18-year-old Lauren Hernandez asked her mothers’s partner Joe Losco, Will you adopt me?’

Heart-wrenching moment an 18-year-old woman asks her lifelong ‘father figure’ to become her legal dad

Joe, has been with Lauren’s mother since she was one, Lauren,  surprises him with a gift box containing adoption papers, both of them break down in tears in the deeply emotional footage

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An 18-year-old woman brought her ‘father figure’ to tears in after she asks him to adopt her. The man, Joe Losco, has been with Lauren’s mother since she was one. In a touching video recorded at her high school graduation party, Lauren surprised him with a gift box containing adoption papers. Both of them break down in tears in the deeply emotional footage

The clip, filmed July in Chicago, shows Lauren Hernandez surprising Joe Losco on the day of her high school graduation party by giving him a box of official adoption papers and asking him to be her legal father.
Sally Hernandez, Lauren’s mother, later posted online: ‘Joe has been in Lauren’s life since she was one-year-old.’
‘Throughout the 17 years he has been in Lauren’s life, he has done all things that a father should do for their child.’
‘So Lauren decided to do something Joe never expected would ever happen.’
Asked why she wanted Joe to legally adopt her, Lauren described a man who made her feel completely loved. “I never doubted that he was my dad. The fact that it’s going to be official makes me happy.”

Lauren says she has tried unsuccessfully to get her biological father to play a part in her life, says Joe has always made her feel wanted. “He’s been there for everything for me.”
Her mother agrees, “When your kids are born, you automatically love them,” she says. “He chose to do for her what he does for his biological daughters.”
Joe who has been in Lauren’s life since she was one year old says he loves being a father to her. “I’ve wanted nothing more than to be her dad from Day One.”
Says Joe, “Growing up I came from a separated family. I always had it in my mind that I would never want other kids to go through that.”

Family portrait, mom Sally, Lauren and Joe with her younger siblings

Joe says he considers Lauren’s special gift of adoption papers, as “one of the best things I’ve ever received in my life.”
The video, shot on the day of her high school graduation party, shows Lauren handing Joe what appears to be a gift. The box, it turns out, contains a framed poem along with a stack of adoption papers.

The ‘gift’ box contains a framed poem along with a stack of adoption papers

Finding a framed poem along with a stack of adoption papers in the box, Joe  loses all composure and sinks to the floor, burying his head between his knees and sobbing as she bends down to console him

Joe then loses all composure and sinks to the floor, burying his head between his knees and sobbing as she bends down to console him

Lauren all set for prom

Lauren and dad, Joe with the papers that will make the family unit legal

There’s a long silence as he works out what it is she’s asking him, then without saying a word he turns to embrace her.
Family members cheer around them and Lauren’s mother can be heard shouting: ‘You did it baby!’
As he reviews the papers again, Lauren struggles to hold back tears while Joe loses all composure and sinks to the floor, burying his head between his knees, sobbing as she bends down to console him.
‘I’m asking him to adopt me’, she tells the assembled guests through her tears. Joe nods and says yes.
Joe said it was ‘one of the best things I’ve ever received in my life’ and stated: ‘I’ve wanted nothing more than to be her dad from day one.’

An emotional Joe  loses it, sinking to the floor, burying his head between his knees and sobbing as she bends down to console him

As he reviews the papers again, both of them struggle to hold back tears of happiness
Joe said: ‘I’ve wanted nothing more than to be her dad from day one’
As he reviews the papers again, both of them struggle to hold back tears of happiness
Lauren should officially become Joe’s adopted daughter in a few weeks when all the paperwork is finalized. Lauren plans to attend Triton College in River Grove to become an ultrasound technician.
When asked why she loves Joe so much, she said: ‘ He has always been there for me and never been mean’. ‘He took me to pumpkin patches and even my little cheerleader games’.
Lauren admits her relationship with her biological father, who also lives in Illinois, is not good. ‘I tried to be a part of his life but it just never worked out.
‘The last time I went to his house was about five or six years ago’.

Lauren on her prom night with boyfriend Cody

Lauren who plans to attend Triton College in River Grove to become an ultrasound technician, should officially become Joe’s adopted daughter in a few weeks when all the paperwork is finalized.