Jackie Coombe and her sons Jaden and Robert. Courtesy photo
Jaden gets ready to swing during a Cubs 10U game this past season. Courtesy photo
Jaden is now 11 years old. He likes to play Roblox, ride his bike and swim. Courtesy photo
Jaden greets Shelldon from the Daytona Tortugas. Courtesy photo
Circuit Court Judge Joan Anthony (right) finalized Jackie Coombe's adoption of Jaden on June 10. Courtesy photo
Jaden, 11, holds up a toy car. Courtesy photo
Jackie Coombe and Jaden. Courtesy photo
Jackie Coombe's life changed in October 2023. That's when she met Jaden.
Coombe had recently decided to go back to work as a teacher and was assigned to Jaden's second grade class at Pathways Elementary. The boy she encountered in the classroom was spirited and goofy, and he made an impression.
"He has that magic," Coombe said.
Toward the end of the school year, she learned Jaden was in foster care. He was one of six siblings, and Coombe learned that the hope was that he would be adopted alongside one of his older brothers.
Learning that Jaden was navigating the foster care system planted a seed and motivated her to start filing adoption paperwork. Even if she didn't adopt Jaden, perhaps there would be another child that she'd feel the same connection with.
Then in February 2025, she learned that Jaden was still waiting to be adopted.
"It turns out that, because I'd contacted the social worker the spring before, they were trying to find what teacher it was that was looking to adopt him," Coombe said.
So Coombe reached out and let them know it was her, and, that she was still interested in adopting him.
On June 10, over two years since Coombe started the process, her adoption of Jaden was finalized. The 11-year-old boy had officially become her son.
Jaden and Coombe had their first interaction as future mother-and-son at a visitation center in June 2025.
"They told him on his way over that he was going to be seeing me and I don't think he believed it," Coombe said. "He came in the door and his eyes just lit up, and he started out with, 'Ms. Coombe, Ms. Coombe!'"
Jaden was a little shy on that first visit, as being with his former teacher in a non-classroom setting was unfamiliar. Coombe was overwhelmed, but she didn't let that discourage her.
And every visit after, no matter how shy, Jaden was excited to see her, she said.
Their first supervised visit took place at Rainbow Park in Ormond Beach. They stopped at Public and got Jaden his sandwich of choice: roast beef with mustard and pickles.
For their first visit on their own, Coombe took Jaden to a friend's birthday party in Palm Coast.
And slowly, they found their footing. By Halloween that year, he asked her if she was going to be his mom. Jaden was placed in her home permanently that December.
"The more we saw each other, the awkwardness went away," Coombe said. "It was exciting to have him come to the house and show him his bedroom. ... He started imagining staying the night over. He was really all for it."
Because Jaden has some special needs, including a speech delay, Coombe knew that taking on the role of mom would need to come with resources to help.
Adoption opened the door for him to benefit from those resources, Coombe said. He's been able to receive speech and occupational therapy, and has recently started equine therapy as well.
Leah Graf was Jaden's first grade teacher at Pathways Elementary. When he was put in her classroom, Jaden would not make eye contact and hardly said a word. He struggled with reading and writing.
Throughout the school year, he progressed enough to where he would play with other children side-by-side. Today, he's able to communicate in full sentences and play sports.
"From where I saw him back in first grade to where he is now, it's just awesome to see that little boy flourish and do so well," Graf said.
Jaden has had a special place in her heart since he was placed in her classroom. Coombe provides her with updates regularly, including sending her photos of the adoption day at the courthouse.
"I've been in education for 29 years, and you always have those little ones that tug at your heart sometimes," she said, and with a laugh, added, "but Jaden really, really, he did a toll on me and Jackie."
Over time, Coombe had learned two major things about Jaden: he wanted to be adopted very much, and he wanted to play baseball.
"I was like, 'Oh, we can do both of those,'" Coombe recalled.
This past season, Jaden played with the Ormond Beach Youth Baseball and Softball Association's Cubs 10U minor league team.
Jaden was very shy when Coach Gordy VanDusen first met him. When the league director asked him if he'd be willing to coach Jaden, VanDusen, a New Smyrna Beach Police officer, agreed without hesitating.
"For me, coaching little league sports is to make sure kids are having fun, and that means all kids and every kid," VanDusen said.
Seeing Jaden on the field having fun brings a smile to your face, he said.
"It really brings back the whole point of playing sports in general, and that's just having the joy of the game," VanDusen said. "I think watching Jaden play really revitalized that for everyone."
Coaching Jaden came at the perfect time for VanDusen too, as he and his wife are in the process of adopting a child too.
"Being able to hit those parenting milestones and seeing Jackie do that with Jaden is huge, because you can tell that she is putting in a lot of effort," VanDusen said. "Her and I would have very lengthy conversations about him hitting milestones and progressing to have the normalcy of a childhood that he deserves and can definitely get with her and her family. Gosh, her and her son Rob just pour an enormous amount of time into Jaden and his success."
Jaden likes the same things as most boys his age. He loves to play Roblox, ride his bike and he swims like a fish, Coombe said. He also loves the family's cats.
"He's curious," Coombe said. "He's very loving. He is very friendly. He's just very active, which is good."
Coombe has two biological sons, ages 29 and 27. When asked if she ever thought she'd be a mom to a young child again, she said she "really, really wanted to."
The age Jaden is at were her favorite years with her sons, she said.
"I get to do all that again," she said. "I get to go relive a childhood with him."
