La Tonya Ruff has finally been able to reunite and sustain a family after a seven-year custody fight.”It took me seven years to get this family back together, getting them back one by one,” Ruff was quoted as saying by KSDK.
The relieved guardian revealed that she had babysat the children in 2012, but she was not informed when they were placed in foster care. She even opened a daycare after discovering she enjoyed working with youngsters.
Ruff was granted custody of one of the children, Tiana, in 2022, and Ashton and Trevione in the spring of 2023. She adopted Dayton and Ky’La, two little siblings, in addition to attending their births.
After the elder kids, Tiana, Trevione, and Ashton, were featured in a news story called “A Place to Call Home,” looking for a more permanent housing situation, Ruff began making preparations to keep the siblings together, according to KDSK.
During Ruff’s most recent court appearance, the guardianship of two elder boys was finalized.She adopted the two youngest siblings and became guardian of the elder children out of respect. The oldest children requested that their parents’ names, including their late father’s, be maintained on their legal documentation.
The court’s decision allows the siblings to grow up in the same residence. Ruff said, “I gave them their forever home, and I wouldn’t have it anything other way. It isn’t an easy job, and I knew it wouldn’t be, but the purpose behind it all makes it even more worth it. We are family.”
With the holidays quickly approaching, Ruff said that the timing couldn’t be better.