(NewsNation) — A Ugandan immigrant who arrived in the United States at age 27 has fostered nearly 50 children and adopted three, driven by his own experience of being helped by a stranger as a homeless child.
Peter Mutabazi, a single father, began fostering children at age 40 after learning about the number of children in the foster care system. His decision to help was inspired by a man who showed him kindness when he was a child, surviving on the streets by stealing food.
“He said, ‘Hey, what’s your name?’ You know, he didn’t say, ‘Go away.’ He didn’t say, ‘You thief,'” Mutabazi told NewsNation’s “CUOMO” on Friday. “That rattled me, because no one human being had ever called me or asked me what my name was.”
The stranger not only fed Mutabazi but also offered to send him to school, seeing potential in the boy when others saw only bad behavior.
“My dad said I will never mount anything. And I believed that. But this man saw the best in me when nobody saw that,” Mutabazi shared.
Initially, Mutabazi signed up to foster just one child, uncertain whether he would be accepted as a single Black man. He had never seen anyone like himself in the foster care system, he said.
“Little did I know that truly, I would have as many as almost 50 that have come through my family,” Mutabazi said.
His approach focuses on creating a safe space where children can heal from trauma rather than trying to erase their past experiences. He also works to support the biological parents, viewing them not as villains but as people who may lack resources or support.
“My job is not take away their trauma, but create a space where they feel they can thrive, where they feel they can overcome what they’ve gone through,” he said.
Mutabazi, founder of the Now I Am Known Foundation, has a GoFundMe page to raise money for 20 full-room makeovers for foster youth across the country.