Sometimes you actually can choose your family. 

Or, at least, Teen Mom offspring Leah Shirley is hoping that’s the case as the 16-year-old daughter of OG star Amber Portwood explores the process of having stepmom Kristina Shirley officially adopt her. 

“I want to be adopted because Kristina’s been there my whole life,” the Indiana-based teen explained on the March 13 episode of Teen Mom: The Next Chapter. “I just feel like it should be official. And it’s more than a piece of paper to me.” 

But the high schooler also knows that it’d require more than just filling out some forms. 

After her dad Gary Shirley—who ended his three-year engagement to Amber in 2011—visited with an attorney to learn their options, he explained that the process could be long and arduous. 

“If everything was to go smoothly, after filing paperwork, which you would have to sign some stuff, too, it could take three months,” he explained to his daughter on the MTV series. “If Amber contests, then it could take, like, a year. It could take longer.”