Lamont Thomas, a single parent, decided to retire so he could spend more time fishing and traveling after fostering more than 30 kids over the course of 15 years.
In 2001, the divorced father of two first welcomed foster child Michael Perez into his home, but this was just the beginning.
Michael is thankful for Lamont’s nurturing and secure environment, and he now works as a nurse.
“I don’t believe that I would be the person that I am today without the morals that he instilled in me and the extended family that I have now,” he told CBS News.
“I don’t believe that I would be the person that I am today without the morals that he instilled in me and the extended family that I have now,” he told CBS News.
Michael was only the start. Lamont raised over 30 children in foster care over the course of the subsequent 15 years, all by himself.
Every child I’ve ever had, I wanted to change their life in some way, he said.
He retired fifteen years later to spend more time traveling and fishing, but that didn’t last very long.
Son Michael said, “It really was a shocker,” son Michael said. “I didn’t expect for him to restart and to do it all over again.”
Son Michael said, “It really was a shocker,” son Michael said. “I didn’t expect for him to restart and to do it all over again.”
When the retired caterer learned that five siblings, all under the age of six, were in danger of being split up, he decided to adopt them all.
He proudly became the father of Zendaya, 5, Jamel, 4, Nakia, 3, Major, 2, and Michaela, 1, and he gets emotional when he thinks about the struggles he endured to provide them with the devoted upbringing they deserved.
Lamont admitted to GMA, “I was fighting to keep back the tears,” “Every day I think about it, my eyes swell up. All that we endured to make this happen, it was something.
Lamont admitted to GMA, “I was fighting to keep back the tears,” “I had to help them. They deserved to be raised together,” he added.
Since 2000, Lamont has fostered more than 30 kids. He now has two biological children and ten adopted children, according to ABC News.
“In the beginning, I was helping out some friends. They had lost their child to the system,” Lamont told ABC News. “I went on and got certified and became a foster parent. I haven’t stopped since.”
Lamont, according to Michael, never turned a kid away; “they either aged out or went back home to their own families.”
Lamont has received a ton of mail from women who have expressed interest in the kind-hearted bachelor after the hero parent received a lot of media attention.
But despite spending Thanksgiving with his large family, he is still single and feels more thankful than ever.