When 11-year-old Luke was getting ready to be adopted, he made one special request which was to invite his fourth-grade class at Brookland Middle School in Brookland, Arkansas, to watch his adoption get finalized in court.
"I told my attorney that it would be really necessary for my class to see my adoption. So I was really excited about just having my class be part of where I'm heading next, you know?" the Arkansas boy told "Good Morning America."
Luke's May 14 adoption was the culmination of months of bonding, a process he and his parents, Cassie and Bradley Kissinger, said was nearly instantaneous after they first met at a "connection event" hosted by Project Zero, an Arkansas nonprofit dedicated to promoting adoption.
"We started playing games at the event and those events can be a little awkward but it was actually not at all with [Luke]," Cassie Kissinger recalled. "I just kind of jumped in and started helping him with things and we walked around and we talked a lot. We got lunch together. So all the awkwardness went away really quickly."
For Cassie Kissinger, adopting Luke has been a longtime dream come true.
"I grew up in a family that fostered and adopted out of foster care. So I always wanted to do that. That was a dream of mine since I was a teenager," she told "GMA."
On his adoption day, Luke said he was nervous, excited and overall, felt "all the feelings combined."
"It was really fun but we had emotional parts too," he said.
Now, the rising fifth grader calls Cassie and Bradley Kissinger mom and dad and also has a brother Aiden, also 11, and an older sister Alena, 14.
Aiden told "GMA" "it's pretty exciting" to welcome a brother into the Kissinger family fold.
"I mean, it gets annoying like other siblings, but we get along pretty well," he said, adding that he particularly enjoys playing video games with Luke or playing outside together in their backyard.
The Kissingers say for other families considering adoption, it's a journey that's well worth it.
"The kids don't want perfect. They don't need perfect. They just need someone to love them," Cassie Kissinger said. "A lot of these kids have been waiting many years in foster care to be adopted and find a permanent family and it can truly change the trajectory of their life if they find that permanency."
"If you actually look at the statistics, the number of kids out there that just need some love is staggering. It's ridiculously high and I mean if you can be a part of changing even one of those kids' lives, go for it. Don't hold back," Bradley Kissinger added.
