An Arkansas teacher has adopted the seven-year-old foster student who burst into her second-grade classroom singing her own name.
Lexi McClelland, 29, met Mary in 2021 at Elm Tree Elementary in Bentonville. McClelland was 24 and in her first years of teaching. Mary had already lived in six foster homes.
“She was naturally funny and incredibly creative,” McClelland told TODAY. “She loved reading, and she had these little comments that felt wise beyond her years.”
Mary had entered the foster care system because of parental substance abuse and neglect. Inside the classroom, she designed an imaginary trolley to deliver library books across the room and chatted to anyone who would listen…