After spending his entire life in the foster care system, 18-year-old Mario Martell Thornton has been adopted by a caring family that he has only known for two weeks. The teen has had a life that many wouldn’t be able to bear. Making change after change as part of foster care, he has lived in more than 30 different foster homes and two group homes.
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In 18 years, Mario has been relocated from Minneapolis to New York, then to Tennessee, and finally to Tampa. Mario was faced with a decision upon becoming an adult: to be packed up and moved out of his foster home or be adopted by a family he only recently met. It was an easy decision for Mario who always wanted to have a family.
“It was a little scary and weird at first because it was all happening so fast, but then I got to know them and really liked them,” Mario said. “I knew I wanted a family. That’s all I’ve ever wanted my whole life.”
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Mario was officially adopted by Mike and Maria Cooke and changed his name to Mario Martell Thorton Cooke. Some foster kids never get adopted and Eckerd Kids’ Misty Hubbard who served as Mario’s adoption recruiter says he’s the first 18-year-old to ever be adopted from the organization.
Maria first fell in love with Mario from a video made by Children’s Board Heart Gallery of Tampa Bay when he was 14. He describes his love for music and even raps about his biological family issues.
“See I’m in this world and my momma thinks I’m nothing, she’s getting beat by my dad but she thinks she loves him, but I know that the Lord can change her, Satan’s over there laughing trying to play her, I’m over here fighting with my mom’s savior. Please help God, cause the devil’s trying to take her,” Mario raps.
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