Robert Carter is a single dad of five. He used the pain from his own childhood as an inspiration to help those in a similar situation when he became an adult.
He was placed in foster care in Hamilton County, Ohio, at the age of 12 as his mom was unable to take care of him and his eight siblings.
Due to his mother’s alcoholism, she was unable to care for her children and they were removed from their home.
For a child in foster care, each instance of loss and instability shakes your sense of what “home” really means.
Once he became an adult and learned how to take care of himself, he adopted two of his younger siblings that he hadn’t seen for years.
He told FOX19 that his mom had nine kids, and he hadn’t seen his youngest for 14 years. He knew that it was very important for siblings to see each other and be around each other.
In December 2019, he fostered three brothers. Sometime later, he learned that they had two sisters, Marionna and Makayla, in the foster system as well – and he decided to foster them too.
The three boys and two girls had been separated for six months, and Carter managed to bring them all together.
He said that all the kids were overwhelmed with emotions, and they didn’t want to leave each other. It was then when he realized that he has to adopt all five.
Carter finally became their father after working very hard to afford a larger house for all five children.
Adoption case manager Stacey Barton said that she’s never had a single father to adopt five children, so this was a unique experience even for her.
The entire family is now back together, and they’re happier than they’ve ever been.
He says that his daughter Marionna told him: ‘I just want to say thanks for taking us in and taking care of us when our real mom couldn’t.’ – and it was the moment that touched him the most.
The chances of a child being adopted decreases as they get older, and finding families willing to take in more than one child is often extremely difficult.
Not only do children in foster care have to cope with the stress of an unstable living situation, but they’re often separated from their siblings, the only family they really have.