At just 11 years old, Tony Mutabazi had already experienced incredible sadness in his life. He was placed in foster care at age two but was adopted by a family in Oklahoma when he was four.
He spent seven years with his family before being c-ruelly abandoned again at a hospital. The distraught 11-year-old asked if his parents were coming back, but the hospital staff had to tell him no and didn’t know why.
Foster care worker Jessica Ward contacted single foster dad Peter Mutabazi to ask if he could take Tony for the weekend. He only expected to have the abandoned boy with him for a few days, but after hearing his story, he knew what he had to do.
“By that time, I was crying. I asked myself, “Who would do that?” “, Peter said, describing the moment Tony told him what he had suffered.
“Once I knew the parents’ rights were signed off and he had nowhere to go, I knew I had to take him with me,” he added.
Peter, originally from Charlotte, North Carolina, has been a foster parent for three years and helps raise 12 children. He was born and raised in Uganda but fled his a-b.u.sive home at the age of 10. Thankfully, he found a parent figure who helped him through school.
Tony’s story resonated with the big-hearted foster dad and the two developed a special bond.
“He’s the nicest, smartest kid I’ve ever had. From day one, he always called me “Dad”. He really meant it and he looks up to me,” Peter told Good Morning America.
“He’s proud to show it to me at school and say, ‘Hey, that’s my dad.’ That’s something I love about him.” I had the room and the resources, so I had no reason to let him go.
“For what someone did for me, I wanted to do something for someone else.”
Peter eventually moved to the United States and became a citizen. He works with the non-profit organization World Vision United States, which helps kids living in vulnerable areas.
Jessica Ward, who works at Angels Foster Family Network in Edmond, said Tony and Peter’s relationship was “beautiful and amazing,” according to Unilad.
“[Tony] was dealing with some issues from foster care and trauma when he was abandoned, so Peter knew once he took him in, that was it. Because of the age Peter was when all of the things happened in his world, I feel like that’s been such a connection for him and Tony,” she added.
Tony was officially adopted by Peter at age 13 and moved from Oklahoma to North Carolina.
Peter said he and his son enjoyed watching movies together, playing board games, reading books, and riding bikes.
Such a wonderful story of love and compassion which reiterates the important point that families don’t have to match.
Peter is a beautiful soul and Tony deserves a loving parent.
