Jackie Coombe, a Florida substitute teacher, formally adopted her former student Jaden in June 2026 — nearly three years after she first met him as a substitute at Pathways Elementary School and learned he was in foster care.
Jaden was just another kid in the class when Jackie Coombe first walked into Pathways Elementary School in Ormond Beach, Florida, in October 2023. She was there to substitute — nothing more, nothing less. She’d fill in for the day, get through the lessons, and go home. That’s how it works.
But something about Jaden stayed with her.
When spring came, Jackie found out why. One of the other adults at the school told her something that stopped her cold: Jaden was in foster care. He didn’t have a permanent home. He was a child bouncing through a system that, at its best, keeps kids safe — but can’t give them the one thing they need most.
Jackie made a decision. She wasn’t going to walk past it.
She started the paperwork. The background checks. All of it. The adoption process in Florida is not a quick one — it demands a great deal from anyone who takes it on, and rightly so. For Jackie, that meant months of forms, home visits, and assessments before the state would consider placing a child in her care permanently. She worked through every step.
By December 2025, Jaden had been permanently placed in Jackie’s care. She later said he had “grown in love and trust” since moving in with her. But one final step remained: making it official.
‘I Got a Mom!’
In June 2026 — nearly three years after Jackie first walked into that classroom — Jaden stood before Circuit Court Judge Joan Anthony. The judge made the announcement: the boy who had once been just another face in a substitute teacher’s class would now be known, officially and forever, as Jaden Andrew Coombe.
Jaden’s reaction was immediate. “I got a mom!” he announced — three words that carried the weight of years of uncertainty, of moves, of hoping that someone would decide he was worth staying for.
Someone had.
Jackie later reflected on just how much Jaden had changed since their early days together — how trust, the hardest thing to rebuild in a child who has been let down, had finally taken root. She didn’t plan for any of this when she took that substitute assignment in October 2023. But she also didn’t look away when it mattered.
There are roughly 400,000 children in foster care in the United States at any given time. Most of them have had adults pass through their lives — teachers, caseworkers, counsellors — people who cared, but moved on. What Jackie Coombe did was simple in concept and extraordinary in practice: she saw a child who needed someone to stay, and she stayed.
Frequently Asked Questions
How did Jackie Coombe meet Jaden?
She met him in October 2023 while working as a substitute teacher at Pathways Elementary School in Ormond Beach, Florida, and later learned he was in foster care.
When did the adoption become official?
In June 2026, before Circuit Court Judge Joan Anthony — nearly three years after Jackie first met Jaden.
How long does the foster-to-adopt process typically take in Florida?
It varies widely, but it involves months of background checks, home visits, and state assessments before a child can be permanently placed — in this case, Jaden was placed with Jackie by December 2025, more than a year after she began the process.
0 Responses
In honesty, the story was corrected. I was a substitute for a week before I became the full time teacher. The bond wasn’t a one day substitute position. All of the children in the class made an impression on me, and drew out my desire to return to teaching. All of my students that year were amazing. I just happened to find out at the end of the year, one of my students was in foster care. I inquired about that. Jaden was a singular influence that moved me to adopt after 6 months of having him in my class.