A 13-year-old boy has found his forever family after being abandoned by his parents two years ago at a hospital.
On Nov. 12 of last year, 13-year-old Tony Mutabazi was adopted by his foster dad, Peter Mutabazi in Charlotte, North Carolina.
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Tony was first placed in the foster care system at the age of 2, and was later adopted by a couple in Oklahoma when he was 4 years old.
When he was 11, Tony’s adopted parents left him at a hospital and never returned, according to Mutabazi and foster care worker Jessica Ward.
“He asked if his parents were coming to get him and they said no,” Mutabazi said. “[We have] no idea why.”
On Jan. 16, 2018, Muatbazi received a call from Tony’s case worker, Jessica Ward, asking if he could take Tony for the weekend.
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Mutabazi, who’s been a foster parent for three years, said he was only scheduled to have Tony stay at his home for two days. It was during that time that he learned the young boy’s story.
“By that time, I was crying. I thought, ‘Who would do that?'” Mutabazi said. “Once I knew the parents’ rights were signed off and he had nowhere to go, I [knew] I had to take him.”
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Mutabazi, who grew up in Uganda, has a survival story of his own. One that has deepened the bond between himself and Tony.
He said he ran away from his abusive home in Uganda at the age of 10 and found refuge in a parent figure who guided him through school and life.
“They became my sponsor, my family. I grew up the poor of the poorest people on the planet,” Mutabazi said. “I grew up where no one told me to dream, that there was no future for me.”
