{"id":5268,"date":"2024-02-05T13:40:44","date_gmt":"2024-02-05T13:40:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ourtimenew.com\/?p=5268"},"modified":"2024-02-05T13:40:44","modified_gmt":"2024-02-05T13:40:44","slug":"this-single-guy-raised-30-children-and-adopted-five-more-heres-how-they-all-live-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ourtimenew.com\/?p=5268","title":{"rendered":"This single guy raised 30 children and adopted five more; here\u2019s how they all live now"},"content":{"rendered":"

Being a foster parent means making a change in a child\u2019s life. These people are compassionate and caring and always ready to open their hearts and homes to minors in need of love and kindness.<\/p>\n

Lamont Thomas from Buffalo, New York, has devoted the last 20 years of his life fostering children. Speaking to Good Morning America of the time he welcomed the first child, this amazing man says, \u201cIn 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\u2019t stopped since.\u201d<\/p>\n

Believe it or not, Lamont has fostered more than 30 kids, five of which he officially adopted. So with his two biological children, Anthony and LaMonica, he became a father of seven.
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The first kid Lamont adopted is Michael Thomas. He\u2019s now 27 and recalls the time he became part of the family.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was my third foster home and it ended up being my forever home,\u201d Michael said. \u201cHe [knew] my biological parents.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLamont never turned [a child] away,\u201d Michael added. \u201cThey either aged out or went back home to their own families.\u201d<\/p>\n

With seven kids to take care of on his own, Lamont knew he was done adopting, but then he came across a very special case that made him change his mind.
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Five siblings aged 5,4,3,2 and 1, who were children of one of Lamont\u2019s foster kids were placed in foster homes themselves. Lamont was sad the kids got to experience their parent\u2019s fate, and his heart tore apart when he learned Zendaya, Jamel, Nakia, Major, and Michaela were separated. Not only they were taken in by four different families, but they were also in four different cities.<\/p>\n

Sadly, that meant one thing, that they wouldn\u2019t be raised together.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when Lamont stepped in. He just couldn\u2019t let the siblings spend their childhood without being by each other\u2019s side so he re-certified as a foster parent and adopted all of them.
\nSome of his older kids had moved from the house already and had families on their own, so Lamont knew he was making the right decision as he could devote all his time to the new addition to the family.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was fighting to keep back the tears,\u201d he said of his adoption day with Judge Lisa Rodwin. \u201cEvery day I think about it, my eyes swell up. All that we endured to make this happen, it was something.\u201d<\/p>\n

This incredible single dad was now a father of 12 children. He knew things wouldn\u2019t be easy, but he was willing to give it a go.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey bring new energy to me,\u201d Lamont shared. \u201cThey\u2019re lovable kids, very affectionate. They deserve to be raised as siblings, and that was my fight.\u201d
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