This man took on the upbringing of juvenile brothers and sisters so that they would not be separated
Five children younger than 5 years old were split up and sent to different foster homes. That is, until a single dad decided to take them all in and keep them all together.
Over the past 19 years, Lamont Thomas of Buffalo, New York, has been a foster parent to more than 30 kids. But when he heard about these young siblings who had been split up, he felt he had to do something. And that thing was for them to be adopted.
Thomas Lamont had “retired” from being a foster parent, so before he could do anything else, he had to reapply to be one. He wanted to get Zendaya, who was 5, Jamel, who was 4, Nakia, who was 3, Major, who was 2, and Michaela, who was 1, together. When Lamont went before the judge in October to adopt the young children, he was very emotional.
Shantela Woods tells Lamont, “I was fighting to keep back the tears. Every day I think about it, my eyes swell up. All that we endured to make this happen, it was something.”
Lamont has two children of his own, and before he retired, he had taken in four more. He said he didn’t see this one coming, the one with the five siblings.
Lamont says, “In the beginning, I was helping out some friends. They had lost their child to the system. I went on and got certified and became a foster parent. I haven’t stopped since.”
Many of the children he adopted in the past are now grown up, and they are very proud of their loving father. People say that he would never say no to anyone and that he has a lot of love to give to many people.
Lamont says this about his most recent adoptees: “They bring new energy to me. They’re lovable kids, very affectionate. They deserve to be raised as siblings, and that was my fight.”
And it sounds like both Lamont and those kids came out on top in that fight.
