Tony Mutabazi had already been through a lot of terrible sadness by the time he was 11. When he was 2, he was put into foster care, but when he was 4, an Oklahoma family adopted him.
He lived with his family for 7 years before being cruelly left again at a hospital. The sad 11-year-old asked the hospital staff if his parents were coming back. They had to tell him, no, but they didn’t know why.Foster care worker Jessica Ward called single foster dad Peter Mutabazi to ask if he could take Tony for the weekend. He thought he would only have the boy for a few days, but when he heard his story, he knew what to do.
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“By then, I was in tears. I asked myself, “Who would do that? Peter said this as he talked about when Tony told him what he’d been through.
“Once I found out that the parents had given up their rights and that he had nowhere to go, I knew I had to take him,” he said.
Peter, from Charlotte, North Carolina, has been a foster parent for three years, helping to raise 12 kids. He was born and raised in Uganda, but when he was 10, he ran away from his abusive family. He was lucky to find someone who helped him through school.
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Tony’s story touched the foster dad’s heart, and he and Tony became very close.
“He’s the nicest and smartest kid I’ve ever had. Since the beginning, he has always called me “dad.” Peter told Good Morning America, “He really meant it, and he looks up to me.”
“He’s proud to show me at school and say, ‘Hey, that’s my dad.’ That’s one of the things I like best about him. I had space and money, so I had no reason to let him go.
Helps kids who live in dangerous places.
“Because someone helped me, I wanted to help someone else.”
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Peter ended up moving to the U.S. and becoming a citizen there. He works for the charity World Vision United States, which helps kids in places where they are in danger.
According to Unilad, Jessica Ward from Angels Foster Family Network in Edmond said that Tony and Peter’s marriage was “beautiful and amazing.”
At 13 years old, she was officially adopted.
“[Tony] was having trouble because he had been in foster care and had been hurt when he was left on the street, so Peter knew that once he took him in, that was it. Because Peter was so young when all of these things happened in his world, I think that’s why he and Tony get along so well,” she said.
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Peter officially took Tony in when he was 13, and they moved from Oklahoma to North Carolina.
Peter said that he and his son like watching movies, playing board games, reading books, and riding their bikes together.
This beautiful story of love and kindness shows how families don’t have to be the same.
Tony needs a loving parent like Peter, who is a beautiful person. Please share in honouring these amazing people who give us all something to think about.