Santa delivers life-changing present to three foster children

No toy could top the gift Santa delivered to three young boys in the US this Christmas season – adoption papers.

Dylan, 7, Levi, 6, and four-year-old Cooper from Idaho were officially adopted by their foster family a week before Christmas, after they were taken in by the family last year.

“Dylan Maximus Smith is officially adopted by the Smith family,” Santa proclaimed during a special visit to the boy’s home.

Jessica Smith, her husband Robert and their nine children opened their home to the boys in January 2014.

“We took them on a temporary basis until she [their mother] could get on her feet and that just didn’t happen,” Mrs Smith told Fox 13. 

The boys were discovered in poor health after growing up in a neglectful home in Arizona.

Seven-year-old Dylan hadn’t been attending school and Cooper, 4, was thought to have multiple disabilities because he didn’t talk.

“They had some medical issues that we needed to address, Levi for instance had 17 cavities he had to get corrected the first couple weeks he had been home,” she said.

But all children have made great strides since joining their new family.

“The following Monday we immediately had him [Dylan] in kindergarten and by the end of the year he was caught up with a full school year worth in just three of four short months.”

"We felt it was sort of our obligation to make sure these guys didn't go back to that type of environment,” Mrs Smith said.