Single dad adopts 13-year-old who was abandoned two years earlier in hospital

A single dad has adopted a 13-year-old who was abandoned two years earlier in a hospital.

The adoption was made official on November 18 last year when Peter Mutabazi became 13-year-old Tony's legal father in Charlotte, North Carolina. Tony has been in the system since he was two years old, and while he was adopted at the age of four by a couple from Oklahoma, they later abandoned him.

This rescue puppy was recently filmed smiling for the camera in a bid to get adopted: 

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Mutabazi and foster care worker Jessica Ward revealed that Tony was abandoned in a hospital ward by his then adoptive parents at the age of 11, who left him without explaining why.

In an interview with Good Morning America, Mutabazi said: "He's the nicest, smartest kid I've ever had. 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."

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"He asked if his parents were coming to get him and they said no," Mutabazi said. "[We have] no idea why."

A foster carer at the time, Mutabazi was contacted on January 16, 2018, asking if he could take Tony in for the weekend. But despite the initial planned short stay, when Mutabazi discovered Tony's tragic circumstances, he let him stay for longer.

"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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Since that fateful weekend in 2018, the pair have been inseparable.

Mutabazi, who is from Uganda, had an equally tricky start in life. When he was 10, he ran away from his abusive family home, and was taken under the wing of a parent figure who helped him through school.

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"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."

Mutabazi eventually moved to the US and founded World Vision United States, which helps vulnerable children, and became an adoptive parent himself so that he could give back after his own positive experience.

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So, needless to say, touched by Tony's story, Mutabazi decided to become his legal father.

"I had the room, the resources, so I had no reason to let him go," Mutabazi said. "For what someone did for me I wanted to do something for someone else."

The adoption was signed, sealed and delivered in a courthouse in Charlotte. A photographer captured the special moment for Mutabazi's family and friends.

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Tony's caseworker, Jessica Ward, told GMA: "[Tony] had some issues that he was dealing with from foster care and trauma when he was abandoned, so Peter know once he took him in, that was it. Peter's [Mutabazi] story all around is beautiful and amazing. Because of the age, Peter was when all of the things happened in his world, I feel like that's been such a connection for him and Tony."

The father and son have a number of shared interests and enjoy movies, books, board games and riding their bicycles together.

Per Good Morning America, they are due to be joined by another foster child in the near future.