Single Dad Adopts 5 Siblings So They Can Stay Together

Buffalo, NY — Lamont Thomas, a 48-year old single father who has fostered over 30 children over the past 20 years, has recently adopted 5 siblings under the age of 5-years old so they can stay together. He currently has a total of 12 children, 10 of whom he adopted and 2 who are biologically his.

Last month, Thomas officially adopted siblings Zendaya, aged 5, Jamel, aged 4, Nakia, aged 3, Major, aged 2 and Michaela, aged 1.

“I was fighting to keep back the tears,” Thomas told Good Morning America. “Every day I think about it, my eyes swell up. All that we endured to make this happen, it was something.”

Since 2000, he has been fostering, initially to help some friends who lost their children to the system. Eventually, he got certified to be a foster parent and started adopting in 2007.

After nearly 2 decades of fostering, Thomas thought he was finished taking care of children as his older children already moved out, some even starting families of their own.

However, when he learned that the children of a man he once fostered have been taken into foster care and split up in four different cities for almost 2 years, he decided to get re-certified and applied to foster with intent to adopt.

After fostering the siblings for two years, he officially adopted them last month.

“They bring new energy to me. They’re lovable kids, very affectionate,” he said. “They deserve to be raised as siblings, and that was my fight.”

Thomas hopes other people would consider being foster parents as well, just like him.

“I wanted to make a difference by being a difference, and I love what I do,” he added.