"From day one, he's always called me Dad"

Tony Mutabazi's childhood was not easy. After his parents gave him up for adoption, he was adopted at age 4. But his adoptive parents abandoned him in a Charlotte, North Carolina, hospital when he was 11, and never returned. A few days later, Peter Mutabazi received a call from a foster care worker asking that he take Tony, just for a weekend. Peter remembers, "Once I knew he had nowhere to go, I had to take him. I had the room and the resources, so I had no reason to let him go."

Peter has been cheering up Tony ever since -- watching movies, playing board games, reading and taking him cycling. In November, 2019, he made it official, adopting the teen as his son. "From day one, he's always called me dad. He truly meant it and he looks up to me. He's proud to show me at school and say, 'Hey, he's my dad.' That's something that I love about him."