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Lake Stevens girl found living in squalor, finds new family

LAKE STEVENS, Wash. — A Lake Stevens girl found living in squalor now has a new life and new parents, thanks to a paternity test.

QUICK FACTS:

  • Officers found three children abandoned living in deplorable conditions earlier this year
  • The 7-year-old has found a new family
  • Father served with paternity papers

Cheyenne,7, has never had a bike without training wheels, but her new family gave her her very first chance Friday. She was presented with a blue, two-wheel bike.  Cheyenne is grateful, because there are so many things she's never had.

Maria Lewis never knew her husband was the father of Cheyenne, but that didn't stop the couple from adopting the young girl after a news story told them of her plight.

https://twitter.com/JoannaKIRO7/status/612028324898967552

"Never knew she was pregnant, didn't know there was a baby," Maria said about Amanda Foley, Cheyenne's biological mother.

Maria's husband, Kevin Lewis, briefly dated Foley.
 
Maria Lewis saw Foley's story on the news. There were pictures of what Cheyenne and her two siblings, a 3-year-old boy and an infant, were found living in back in February.

>> PHOTOS: 3 young children abandoned, living in squalor 

>> The breaking story: 3 children found abandoned inside house living in deplorable conditions

They were padlocked inside a filthy duplex, and police say left alone for days.

Amanda Foley and the man she was living with, Mark Dorson, were jailed, and the kids were put in foster care. The city of Lake Stevens condemned the home back in April.
 
That's about the same time the Lewis' were served with paternity papers.

They already have four kids, but it took all of a split second to decide they wanted Cheyenne.
 
"When she called me 'mom' for the first time, 'Kevin!  She called me mom!'" Maria Lewis recalls. 

"I think it just makes us feel so good to be able to provide for another child, and there are just so many firsts for her."

https://twitter.com/JoannaKIRO7/status/612031212362711040

Cheyenne hopped on her bike and rode it without training wheels for the very first time.
 
"I rode by myself!" she exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear.
 
The Lewis' are still working to get custody of Cheyenne's 3-year-old brother, even though Kevin is not the biological father.

They have already started the adoption process.  Now, they just need a bigger apartment.

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