Woman Surprises Stepdad With Adoption Papers 17 Years Later

1010 WINS- When Mark High first met his partner Jamie 17 years ago, he always made sure to include her 9-year-old daughter Lindsey in their plans and made it a point to make her feel like an important part of the budding relationship.

"He was honestly the best father growing up," Lindsey Collins, now 26, told 1010 WINS. "In my pre-teen and teen years, I was given a lot of freedom as long as I didn't do anything to break my parents' trust.

"I think that made our relationship stronger," she explains, "because I never felt like he or my mom were overbearing. In return, it sort of created this open door policy where I knew I could go to him with any situation without fear of judgment or getting into trouble."

Mark and Jamie have stayed together since then, and after being in her life for the past 17 years Lindsey wanted to make her relationship with Mark official by surprising him with adoption papers.

Although Mark and Lindsey had talked about adoption in the past, somehow they never went through with it. Over the last few years, as Lindsey became a young adult, she and Mark have become even closer which gave her the idea to finally make it happen.

"I wanted to surprise him because I wanted it to be something that completely caught him off guard," says Lindsey. "I already knew the gesture would be something that meant a lot to him, but I think the fact that he was completely oblivious to it made it that much more special.

"I don't really have words for his reaction. I remember telling my mom that I expected him to have some sarcastic remark about how it's about time we got around to it. Both of us have very sarcastic personalities and love to give each other a hard time. I knew he'd cry a little bit, but I never expected him to breakdown the way he did. It definitely meant the world to see how much it truly meant to him."

Watch the full video below.

-Joe Cingrana