Often we hear stories about babies being adopted. But there are plenty of older kids who get adopted every day or who are in the foster care system. In the United States, around 400,000 children are in foster care. This is the heartbreaking and beautiful story of one of them.

Things were going okay for Tony.

He had spent ages 2-4 in foster care. Although he never really knew his birth parents, he was adopted at age 4 by a couple in Oklahoma. He spent the next few years living in Oklahoma with his adoptive parents, calling them “Mom” and “Dad” and growing comfortable. But the rug was pulled out from under him when he was 11 years old.

His foster parents left him at the hospital–an awful, heartbreaking thing to do to a child.

There is no clear reason why his adoptive parents did such a thing. All Tony knows is that one day they drove him to the hospital, dropped him off, and then never returned after he was admitted to the hospital.

This was obviously a deeply traumatic experience for the child. He had spent so much time believing that these people loved him and wanted to parent him, and suddenly, they abandoned him. As a result of this awful event, Tony was sent back into the foster care system.

Peter was a foster parent, so it was normal for him to spend time with other foster kids.

In was upon Tony’s return to foster care that he had a chance encounter. Tony’s foster care worker, Jessica Ward, reached out to another foster parent to ask if he could watch Tony for the weekend.

This happened to be Peter Mutabazi, who was a skilled foster parent. He had previously fostered two brothers for 7 months before the court determined that the children should return to live with their birth parents.

Peter missed the last kids he fostered a lot, so he wasn’t sure if he could get attached to another foster child.

By the time Peter had to say goodbye to his last foster children, he was heartbroken. He has formed a bond with them, describing it by writing:

“They had changed my life as well as well my understanding of how much a person could love another human being. They truly held my heart.”

Because of this deep attachment, he experienced overwhelming loss and grief and the children returned to their birth parents. He explained that that prevented him from wanting to meet Tony:

“I made up my mind that if the placement exceeded the two nights agreed upon, I would simply refuse to allow him to stay any longer out of fear I would become attached, once again, only to return to the loss and grief.”

Eventually, though, Peter agreed to watch Tony for the weekend. And it became the best choice he’s ever made.

Tony got attached to Peter, and Peter decided to become his official dad.

Pretty soon after meeting, Tony started calling Peter “Dad”. Peter was shocked by this, but he soon warmed up to it. And by the end of the weekend, Peter was ready to sign placement papers in order to keep Tony with him.

Of becoming Tony’s legal father, Peter had this to say about the high honor:

“I was chosen, I was wanted, I was cherished, I grew in his heart, I was the missing piece, and I’m loved today despite my shortcoming…I found my little/big soul today!”

Tony’s story was one Peter could understand.

Peter could relate to Tony’s plight, because Peter himself had been adopted. In his home country of Uganda, Peter had to escape his abusive father, so he ran away to be taken in by a parent figure.

This probably made it really easy for Peter to empathize with Tony, as well as making him extra devoted to helping him have a stable home life.

Family is not just blood.

Peter and Tony’s story shows us all how much love and generosity are essential to building a family. Their bond is heartwarming and teaches us all about how a modern family can be formed.

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Source: Adopt Us Kids, Love What Matters, Good Morning America, Instagram – Peter Mutabazi