TikTok might not seem like the most natural platform on which to honor your parent’s sacrifice, but for Jordan Benewiat, it worked in a manner far beyond her wildest dreams. She took to the popular app to tell the story of her rocky childhood, and her video and its amazing, redeeming twist has racked up over 9 million TikTok views. The reason? Jordan’s adoptive dad, Steve Benewiat.
It all started when Steve came into her and her brother Jarred’s life when Jordan was just seven. He began dating their mom, but soon her battles with addiction left her unfit to parent or be in a romantic relationship. On Jordan’s 8th birthday, her mother got drunk and violent and ransacked their house. When Steve came home from out of town and saw what had happened, he immediately called the police. He could no longer see Jordan and Jarred in danger.
The kids were placed in foster care, but this was not what Steve Benewiat wanted for them. Despite having no familial connection to them, he wanted to raise Jordan and Jarred as his own and make sure they had a loving, stable upbringing. But the road to getting there wasn’t easy.
“The first time I saw my dad cry was the day he thought we were being taken by the state,” Jordan told Love What Matters. “I had no idea why he was crying in the courtroom but when he explained it to me I burst into tears and he just hugged me until we had to leave. Luckily by divine intervention, he was given emergency foster rights.”
After three years of fostering, Steve was finally able to officially able to adopt Jordan and Jarred. From the moment they came into his care, their lives changed for the better and they began to heal from the unstable, traumatic life they had lived with their mom.
“My dad gave me stability and safety I had never known before. Before I met him as far back as I can remember I was scared and worried. My brother and I had to worry about whether we would eat, if we would go to school if our mom would die from drinking too much,” Jordan said.
With Steve as their dad, she continued, she and her brother were able to do the normal childhood things that many of us took for granted as kids.
“He showed up every time we needed him to,” she recalled. “He gave me back the second half of my childhood. I was finally able to ride my bike, go to school, play sports, and never worry about dinner. He gave me someone you want to call when my life feels like it’s falling apart. He gave me the safety I had never known. My life wouldn’t look at all like it does without him.”
For her part, Jordan is ecstatic that her TikTok about her dad’s sacrifice has reached so many.
“For the world to stop and say ‘hey man thank you for being a good man’ is something I never thought I’d see,” says Jordan. “All I want to do in this life is to repay and be worthy of the sacrifices he made for two kids who had nothing left. So for so so so many people to pour that love back into him has made us feel like he’s finally getting the recognition he’s deserved his whole life.”
@jordan.elise truly my hero since the day he came into my life ❤️ #worldsbestdad #myhero #adoption #fyp ♬ paradise – favsoundds
I must say, this kind of story restores my faith in humanity, in unselfishness, and in the ability to heal from some really hard things. Maybe, just maybe, Steve’s story will inspire a younger generation of men and women to step up for some kids in need in their lives someday.
