“Nobody has ever measured, not even poets, how much the heart can hold.”
These were the lines of the novelist Zelda Fitzgerald. And even with the intricate beauty that this line possesses, it will never compare to seeing it unfold in the real world.
What we thought is the ultimate capacity of our hearts to love ended up being so much more than we can imagine. Much like the heart of a father who raised dozens of children like his own.
Lamont Thomas has fostered children for over 20 years.
The Buffalo, New York native dedicated most of his life to making a difference in the lives of children he treated as his own. Even if he has two biological kids, Thomas has always kept a door open for children who need care and acceptance.
“In the beginning, I was helping out some friends. They had lost their child to the system,” Thomas told Good Morning America. “I went on and got certified and became a foster parent. I haven’t stopped since.”
Since then, Thomas changed the lives of 30 kids.
“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,” Michael Perez, one of his kids, said to CBS News.
Thomas took Perez under his care back in 2001. Now, he works as a nurse.
Shortly after that, Thomas retired from being a parenting legend.
He watched his children move out of his house and live the lives they deserve. Some became professionals, and some started families of their own.
Thomas, in the meantime, spent his days fishing and going on vacations. But as his heart yearned for what Thomas was made for, this lull didn’t last long.
Thomas came out of retirement when he learned about five siblings in the system.
Zendaya, Jamel, Nakia, Major, and Michaela were all under the age of six. As it was difficult to place all of them under the same roof, the system moved to break up the siblings.
“The kids ended up being taken into care — I believe it was due to neglect,” Lamont said to Good Morning America. “They had them in four different homes, four different cities. They were separated for over a year-and-a-half.”
For Thomas, that definitely wouldn’t do.
Acknowledging the importance of the siblings growing up together, Lamont adopted all five of them.
“They bring new energy to me. They’re lovable kids, very affectionate,” Lamont told the news outlet.
“They deserve to be raised as siblings, and that was my fight.”
In 2019, Thomas marched into Judge Lisa Rodwin’s courtroom to make the formalities official. All five of them moved into Thomas’s house to start their lives as children.
Some of his foster kids said that being a foster parent is Thomas’ “God-given call”.
Thomas said that he wanted to make a difference by being the difference he wanted to see. And as he goes with his recently adopted children, may Thomas inspire other people to be life-changers to thousands of kids still within the system.
No one has ever measured how much a heart can hold but we’re pretty sure that it’s more than 30 children.
Watch the video below to see Thomas and his beautiful children together!
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Source: YouTube – CBS Evening News, Good Morning America, CBS
