We sometimes hear stories that make us sad but at other times, those same stories can restore our faith in humanity. Both of those is sure to be the case when you hear about Lamont Thomas who lives in Buffalo, New York. He loves children and he wants to care for those who are in need or have been abandoned. Over the past two decades, dozens of children were fostered by him and he adopted a few of them that he cared for. Lamont also has two of his own children so he knows how to take care of them. That being said, he also did something very special when he adopted five siblings who are all under the age of five. He wanted them to grow up together, and the group included Zendaya (5), Jamel (4), Nakia (3), Major (2), and Michaela (1).
Judge Lisa Rodwin was presiding when the adoption was finalized. Lamont gave an interview to Good Morning America, saying that he was ‘fighting back the tears’ the whole time. He even says that he thinks about the situation every day and what those children had to endure in order to get adopted. He also talks about his started taking care of foster care children and how he wanted to help out some friends who lost a child in the system. He didn’t want the child to be a stranger to them so he was certified as a foster parent. It turns out that was just the start.
Germayne and Tremayne were twins that were adopted along with Jamie in 2007. Another boy, named German, was adopted not long after. Lamont would go on to adopt the first child he ever fostered, Michael. Five adopted children were now blended in with the family that he already had, a daughter, LaMonica and son, Anthony. Michael was his first foster child and he is 27 years old. He told Good Morning America that he was in his third foster home when he came to Lamont and it ended up being his forever home.
A child did not age out or go back to their own family when they were in Lamont’s home, according to Michael. It seems as if he was determined to care for any child that came his way. After he raised his biological and adopted children, Lamont thought that he was finished with foster parenting but that is what he heard about five little children. He decided he would come out of retirement and he found out that he had actually fostered the father of one of the siblings. That is how he learned that they needed a home, so he stepped up to the plate.
The children were in four different homes in four different cities before they came to Lamont. They had been separated for more than a year and ended up being cared for by Lamont for two years before the adoption was finalized. Lamont admits that the kids bring him ‘new energy’ and he feels that it is their right to be raised as a family.
You can learn more in the following interview: