These High School Sweethearts Adopted Her 5-Year-Old Brother: 'Doesn’t Belong Anywhere Else' (Exclusive) 

Hannah Robinson was a 19-year-old college student when her baby brother, T.J., was born in 2017 and soon placed into foster care while his parents dealt with addiction issues.

Robinson knew then that she wanted to adopt him.

“I never imagined anything different,” she tells PEOPLE for a story in this week's issue. “He needs somebody, and I'm going to be that person."

Robinson and her half-brother share a father. “They’re not in a good situation,” Robinson explains of T.J.'s parents.

Their dad has dealt with homelessness, too — and Robinson knew that, unfortunately, his parents could not take care of him. T.J. was born premature, at 32 weeks, and was moved through various foster families until he was 5.

For more stories about extraordinary families, including how Colin Farrell's son James has inspired his new misson, pick up this week's issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands now, or subscribe.

Robinson says she had "a wonderful, wonderful mother, and if I hadn't, I don't know where I would've been, but I felt I was meant to be that for him."

She also knew that that adopting T.J. would take years. She told her boyfriend and high school sweetheart, Drew Munn, about her plan and said, “I need you to decide right now — are you on board or not?”

Munn, who had been dating her since the 10th grade, says that at first, he wasn’t sure they were ready to be parents. When T.J. was born, Robinson was a student at St. Lawrence College, in Ontario, while Munn attended Canada's Royal Military College.

“We were still in college, still gaining adult experience,” says Munn, now a 25-year-old engineer officer in the Canadian Armed Forces. “But T.J. needed us. Hannah’s conviction convinced me.”

When the couple graduated from college, they bought a house and set up a room for T.J. in anticipation of him rejoining the family.

Over the years, Robinson, who works as a photographer in Canada's New Brunswick province, continued to be in touch with her brother's social workers about her desire to adopt him.

“It didn’t feel like it was going to happen,” she says.

She wasn’t allowed to visit T.J. for more than a year when he was in his last foster home, she says. Then a new social worker was assigned to his case and arranged a meeting for the siblings in a park.

“He came over to me and gave me the biggest hug,” Robinson, now 26, recalls. “He said, "I missed you so much.' ”

Robinson says the social worker told her, “You are T.J.’s safe place. He doesn’t belong anywhere else other than with you.’ ”

On Oct. 5, 2022, 5-year-old T.J. moved in with his sister and her then fiancé.

A year later, in October 2023, at the couple’s wedding, T.J. wore a tux that matched Munn's, sported his own wedding ring and proudly sat at the sweetheart table. They said, “Our whole family is getting married.”

“He really thought of it as his wedding,” Robinson says. “I love how we've all chosen to be together.”

T.J. is close with her husband, too: They wrestle, play video games and build Legos together.

“Every time he calls us mom or dad, it just feels so, so special,” she says. (She and Munn are still in the process of legally adopting him.)

If someone asks T.J., now 7, to explain how he’s related to Robinson, he says, “'She’s my mom and she’s my sister,' and he thinks that's wonderful,” Robinson says. “He thinks it just doubles the amount we’re related and how much we love each other.”

In January, when she picked T.J. up from school, she surprised him with a trip to Disney. A video she posted about it on TikTok got 40 million views.

“We had such a good time together. He talks about it all the time — he's got his little piggy bank and he's like, 'Look at the dime I found. I'm putting it in the jar for our next Disney trip,' ” she says. “He wants to go again so bad.”

She shares their adventures as a family on Instagram and has also started a GoFundMe for T.J. to cover costs of therapy, sports, summer camps and college.

For the last several birthdays and Christmases, T.J. has added getting a “baby brother” to his wish list. He won't have to wait long: Robinson is pregnant and due to welcome a baby boy on Oct. 4.

“T.J. has brought so much joy into our lives,” says Munn. “We’re so excited to keep growing together.”