Just in time for the holidays, Texas teen who aged out of foster care gets new family

Earlier this year, Texas station News 8 told the story of a Rockwell teen who had aged out of the foster-care system and had been living out of his car while he tried to finish high school.

Seth Miller, 19, had been in foster care since the age of 7. When he turned 18, he became a legal adult and officially aged out of the system.

When Virginia Barrett, a volunteer for Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children, learned that the teen was living in his car, she helped him move into his own apartment.

But even a roof over his head wasn't enough.

"One family," Miller said of the thing he wanted most in life. "Even if I had to live in a box — family."

Viewers responded to the news story with offers to pay for his rent and buy him food. One kind stranger bought him new tires for his car.

Robert and Ara Hunt, who have seven kids, three of whom they've adopted, heard Miller's story. One of their adopted children is 11-year-old Shyann, Miller's biological sister.

When they learned through Miller's case worker that Miller had been in a car accident and suffered minor injuries, they reached out to the teen — and decided to adopt him.

"That was the moment that we said, 'We have to do something,'" recalled Ara Hunt. "We wanted to reach out and at least meet him. For ourselves, for him and eventually for our daughter."

When Miller and his sister met for the first time, both hugged and broke down in tears.

"Knowing that for so many years, this moment, it's actually here," Miller told News 8. "It's almost like a kid's first Christmas or a kid's first birthday. You don't really know what to do. You don't really have the words to describe how joyful you are and how grateful you are for everything."

Now, just in time for the holidays, Miller has a new family, "the true gift."

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He calls Ara "Mom" — and plans to change his name to Hunt to honour his new parents.

"A new family. New life. New name. New journey,” Miller told News 8 with a huge grin. "And I'm going to live it to the fullest."

"We've been having lots of family time, going to the movies, softball practice, four wheeling, just being a family," Miller told Yahoo Shine. "That's really all I've ever wanted."

Miller is finishing his high school degree with night classes, and hopes his story inspires other teens like him to get a court appointed special advocate (CASA) volunteer to help them.

"This is absolutely his family," Ara said. "This is the family from the day he was born, God wrote on his head, 'Hunt.' I believe that with everything that I have in me."

"Seth was brought here to change our lives. I sincerely believe that," she added. "It's taught us humility. It's taught us to be more thankful."