If you were to call Lamont Thomas, of Buffalo, New York, “a family man,” that wouldn’t begin to explain his lifestyle. This above-and-beyond single father has taken care of 30 foster kids since the year 2000 in addition to having adopted 10 and had two others biologically. And just when you think he might be ready for a break, Thomas has “come out of retirement” to adopt five siblings under the age of 5.
At an adoption hearing in Oct. 17, 2019, where he was awarded custody of children, Thomas was happy to have kept the kids with him. “I fought for close to two and a half years just to be able to get them together, and we won, we got it,” he told WGRZ in Buffalo. After Judge Lisa Rodwin wished him and the children well, he explained, “I wanted to be the difference, make a difference by being a difference for these youth.”
As for Thomas, he never intended to be a record-setting foster-care dad when he started taking in children in 2000. “In the beginning, I was helping out some friends. They had lost their child to the system,” he explained to GMA. “I went on and got certified and became a foster parent. I haven’t stopped since.”
In addition to his foster kids, Thomas adopted a pair of twins in 2007 and followed up with two more singleton adoptions. He went on to adopt his very first foster kid, Michael, now 27 years old, which was a special moment in his life as a father. As a grateful Michael Thomas told GMA, “He was my third foster home and it ended up being my forever home.”
Michael noted that Lamont Thomas was different than other foster parents who preferred to pick and choose the kids that would come their way. “Lamont never turned [a child] away,” said Michael. “They either aged out or went back home to their own families.” For him, the influence of a forever dad has been decisive in turning his life around. “Lamont has been a life-saver to me. I wouldn’t be the person that I am today, had Lamont not ventured in my life.”
As the years went by, many of the children Lamont Thomas had fostered went on into the world to start their own families. With the last of his wards moving on in recent years, he was contemplating taking a well-deserved break. But that’s not the way it worked out.
It was the special case of the fabulous five, 5 and under: Zendaya, 5; Jamel, 4; Nakia, 3; Major, 2; and Michaela, 1, that managed to pull Thomas “out of retirement,” as he joked to GMA. The five siblings had a biological father who had been a foster kid in Thomas’s house, which was how their situation came to his attention.
When the kids were separated from their birth parents, which Thomas believes was due to neglect, he felt that he had to step in. “They had them in four different homes, four different cities,” he said. “They were separated for over a year-and-a-half.” Believing that the children belonged together as a family, he stepped up to the plate again.
He started by bringing all five of them into his house, where he served as foster dad for two years. After building up a good rapport with them, he just couldn’t bear to part with them. “They bring new energy to me. They’re lovable kids, very affectionate,” Thomas said. “They deserve to be raised as siblings, and that was my fight.”
While it’s not clear if this is Thomas’s last batch of kids, there’s no question that he will have his hands full. But for him, fostering and adopting isn’t just something he does for himself; he believes it is a calling. With his experience and passion, there’s hope for the young five.
