When Hannah Robinson was just a 19-year-old college student, she became a big sister to T.J., her half-brother. Because of his parent’s addiction issues, he was soon placed in the foster care system.
Robinson told PEOPLE in an interview that she knew she wanted to adopt him as soon as he was born. “I never imagined anything different,” she said. “He needs somebody, and I’m going to be that person.”
However, it wasn’t an easy journey. Born at 32 weeks, he was sent to his first foster home as soon as he was released from the hospital. Since he wasn’t eligible for adoption at the time, he moved through multiple homes until he was 5 years old.
At the time, Hannah was dating her high school sweetheart, Drew Munn, who was also in college. Robinson was a student at St. Lawrence College, in Ontario, while Munn attended Canada’s Royal Military College.
She told her then-boyfriend about her plan to adopt T.J. someday and told him, “I need you to decide right now — are you on board or not?”
Munn, who had been dating her since the 10th grade, says that at first, he wasn’t sure they were ready to be parents.
“We were still in college, still gaining adult experience,” says Munn, now a 25-year-old engineer officer in the Canadian Armed Forces. “But T.J. needed us. Hannah’s conviction convinced me.”
After the couple graduated from college, they bought a home together and set up a room for T.J. in hopes he would join them soon.
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Throughout T.J.’s time in foster care, Robinson continued to be in touch with her brother’s social workers about her desire to adopt him. However, in his last foster home, she wasn’t allowed to visit him for over a year. After a new social worker was assigned to his case, she was finally able to see her little brother.
His new social worker arranged for their special reunion to be in a park.
“He came over to me and gave me the biggest hug,” Robinson recalls. “He said, ‘I missed you so much.’ ”
Robinson said the social worker told her, “You are T.J.’s safe place. He doesn’t belong anywhere else other than with you.”
Finally, in 2022, a now-five-year-old T.J. moved in with the couple. A year later, he wore a tux that matched Munn’s at the couple’s wedding and received his own ring.
“He really thought of it as his wedding,” said Robinson. “I love how we’ve all chosen to be together.” She added, “Every time he calls us mom or dad, it just feels so, so special.”
If someone asks T.J., now seven-years-old, to explain how he’s related to Hannah Robinson, he says, “’She’s my mom and she’s my sister,’ and he thinks that’s wonderful,” Robinson says. “He thinks it just doubles the amount we’re related and how much we love each other.”
Robinson has explained how she wants to be the best mom to T.J. since she also had a great mom.
Robinson says she had “a wonderful, wonderful mother, and if I hadn’t, I don’t know where I would’ve been, but I felt I was meant to be that for him.”
After everything he had been through, she wanted to create some special childhood memories for him. This past January, she posted a viral TikTok of surprising T.J. with a trip to Disney.
Now, his wish is to become a big brother. This dream has finally become a reality since Hannah and Drew are expecting a baby boy in early October.
Praise God for Hannah Robinson and the bravery she showed in stepping up to become her little brother’s mom. Please join us in praying that the final portion of the adoption process goes smoothly and is finalized without any issues.
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