When eight-year-old Bobby Hendry's mum handed her to the state for protection from her abusive dad, it was the start of a chaotic life in foster care.

Sixteen foster families, 38 addresses and years of hurt followed.

At 15, Bobby — an "old dog in a pound" — had run out of options.

She was faced with having to leave a school she loved and move hours away into a group home.

But just like the schoolgirl in the children's book Matilda, life took an unexpected turn when two teachers, Chris and Peter Harrison, decided to call her their daughter — for good.

When you get an email with the subject line "the teachers who saved my life", you open it with curiosity.

This is how ABC Life came to know 23-year-old Bobby, aka Emily, from the NSW Central Coast and her story.

After speaking to Bobby, we also reached out to the teachers who became her parents to learn more about this real-life Roald Dahl tale.

When did your foster care options come to an end?

Bobby (aka Emily): I was living with this woman who was a little bit insane.

My case worker said, "Are you sure we can't reconcile the issues with this carer? There is not much chance for you at 15 — you are no longer plastic, you can't be moulded. You need to decide if you want to stay here and work it out, or throw yourself into the unknown."

I was like, "You know that saying, better the devil you know? Well, you don't know this devil, I'm leaving."

Do you share a unique connection with someone who's impacted your life in a positive way? Tell us about it. Email life@abc.net.au

Tell us about the time you all first met

Chris (mum): Emily was a student at our school. She was very bright, and I was leading a maths competition when she was in Year 7.

She was sitting there with a runny nose, and she was really ocker. She had some rough edges.

I brought over a box of tissues and she said, "Nah, I'll be right" and wiped her nose up her sleeve.

That was my first contact. I thought, "She's a funny little girl."

I asked for her name and she said "Bobby". I thought, "There is no Bobby on my list."

Peter (dad): I taught Emily in Year 9 and she was an interesting girl.

She had some real rough edges, but as Chris said, she was super intelligent.

We just got on like a house on fire. She was very chatty and I got to know her pretty well.

She started to open up about home life and told me about foster life.

I had her again in Year 10 science and the relationship grew. It was just a friendly relationship.

"I could just see she would be lost and never really get nurtured to [achieve] what she could achieve in life," Peter says. ( Supplied: Bobby Hendry )

Bobby: My friends wouldn't let me talk about Dr Who — they said they were bored of it. I couldn't blame them really. So I'd talk to my science teacher about it.

I just remember working really hard for him.

I wasn't a bad kid. I was tough, though. I'd experienced a lot of hurt and didn't know how to channel it.

But I was smart. In his class I was regularly pulling marks over the 80s and 90s.

So when I started getting 20s and 30s and was handing in assignments handwritten instead of typed, with the same uniform on as the past week and huge circles under my eyes, he tried talking to me.

I hadn't opened up about my childhood before. This was the sort of school that kids didn't know the meaning to words that I did.

It was a very sheltered school.

How did the idea of fostering Bobby come about?

Peter: One day [Bobby] explained she'd been kicked out and she was a mess.

She was at the end of the line basically — faced with a group home in Sydney and she would have to move schools. But she loved that school.

And we'd heard terrible things about group homes, like stories about bullying.

At that point I went home and I said to Chris, "We have got to take this girl, we can't let that happen. She's got too much going for her."

I could just see she would be lost and never really get nurtured to [achieve] what she could achieve in life.

I rang and spoke to the agency, and said this is who I am and this is what I want to do.

They were a bit miffed with a bloke ringing up saying I want to take this girl.

Chris: So I rang and had to explain this is what we want to do.

They said it was a long process and they avoid school teachers doing it because it hasn't worked before. But I'd explained we'd had other students in the house short-term to help them through their HSC.

I'd also had a foster sister and my mother was a state ward, so as soon as I shared all of that they realised we weren't just run-of-the-mill teachers feeling sorry for some kid.

Peter: We went backwards through the system, basically. They gave Emily to us, then we had to pursue all the legal and training stuff along the way, rather than do the 12-month-or-so training first before we got approved.

Chris: But obviously they did all the diligence checks first and interviews with us and our two sons.

What was it like getting the news you were moving in with Mr and Mrs Harrison?

Bobby: One day my case manager picked me up from school and we went and got a milkshake.

She told me, "We've found a family for you, everything has been arranged, you can move there this week. They're very excited and we all are too."

When she told me it was the Harrisons I was honestly speechless.

Somehow, from the brief time we'd had together in class, these two teachers saw something in me that seldom had seen in me before: a worth to be loved.

They chose me, they knew me, and they still chose me.

I was so excited, but I was scared too.

What was the first time together as a family like?

Bobby: They had prepared a bedroom for me, with a huge desk and comfy bed.

They immediately started filling the fridge with my favourite foods, and started asking me what I wanted for my birthday.

But the best thing was how they introduced me as their daughter to friends they ran into at the shops.

Chris: The first time that she drove in the driveway she went, "Is this where I'm going to live?' because we live on acreage and she couldn't believe it.

She said, "And I've got my own room?"

I took her shopping to choose whatever she wanted for her room, even down to the doona cover. She said, "These are all too dear", and I said, "No they are not, this is cheap!"

She was just besotted, she couldn't believe it.

"Because of these two teachers, I got to experience love and become all the things I wanted to be," Bobby says. ( Supplied: Bobby Hendry )

Were there any challenges in the change from teacher-student to parent-child relationship?

Chris: She'd been traumatised. We had to keep saying to her, "We love you. It doesn't matter what you do, you can always come back. You are part of our family now."

Peter: I can remember tearing my hair out. She was almost impossible to live with in the beginning.

Really untidy, no sense about anybody else and responsibility.

She was very selfish — not deliberately so — it was a dog-eat-dog world she'd been in.

Sometimes things would set her off and we'd find her cowered under her desk curled up in a ball because she'd remembered something from her past.

As she saw we were consistent and we did things because we loved each other, that's what slowly changed her.

Bobby: The Harrisons told me once that about a year in, they noticed something weird — I'd retreated.

They thought I was so used to things falling apart, I was building distance so I'd be OK when things did.

I remember them saying to me, "We actually love you, you're not a burden here."

Bobby Hendry recently completed a project taking photos of the 40 homes she'd lived in. This is number 40, which was the first place of her own. ( Supplied: Bobby Hendry )

What does life look like today, eight years since the Harrisons became family?

Bobby: Because of them, I'm straight up killing it.

I've got my own place, only five minutes from theirs, I graduated from college and landed an amazing full-time job, and I've just started my photography business.

I'm in a healthy, committed relationship, and I have goals and the ability and support to meet them.

Statistically speaking, I should be or have none of these things.

I should be homeless, addicted to the same poisons that took stronghold of my parents.

But because of these two teachers, I got to experience love and become all the things I wanted to be.

My parents might not have been there when I was born, or I may not have their blood running through my veins, but I am still their daughter. And I am so lucky for that.

ABC Life is looking at unique relationships and companionships in our lives. By unpacking these bonds, ABC Life hopes to inspire readers to consider their own special connections.