Florida

Single Dads Adopting Children, Creating Forever Families

"He helps us. He loves us. Just that he adopted us shows us he cares."

Fabian Presswood and his four brothers have known nothing other than instability and neglect for most of their young lives.

"I didn't have a good childhood," said Fabian, 15. "I actually wanted a father figure. I never had a father."

That all changed a few years ago when school teacher William Presswood welcomed the teen boys into his Homestead home to raise them as his own.

"They really don't have a sense of normalcy. So, when they get here and they feel at home," said William.

He is not your typical adoptive parent. William cares for his five adopted sons all by himself.

"I'm not replacing a mother figure. I'm not mommy. I'm something that some of them have never had before," William explained.

He wouldn't have it any other way. Williams says he enjoys being a single dad.

"I don't have to ask anybody anything. I think it's better for me in terms of that."

His sons say they don't see anything wrong with being raised by a single father.

Fabian's brothers, John, 17, and Lawrence, 22, are happy that William came into their lives.

"He helps us. He loves us. Just that he adopted us shows us he cares," John said.

Lawrence meet William when he was 14 years old while at another foster home.

"He started helping me when I started opening up," Lawrence recalled.

William is part of a small but growing trend: single men who adopt children. Single dads make up only 3% of adoptive parents nationwide. That number is up from 2% in the last two decades.

"Some of the best foster parents I've seen are single foster parents," William argued. "We're in it for the right reasons. We're here to help kids and we're here to build people up."

William knew this was his calling when he took in one of his students years ago. Since then, he has fostered more than 100 children, adopting five sons.

"Each one is very special. They all are from different ethnic backgrounds from different family backgrounds," William said.

The single dad admits the journey hasn't been easy. He says his family didn't like it at first; they thought it was weird. They eventually came around and began to like the children he was caring for.

William says he has no plans to stop helping the many neglected children who are stuck in foster care.

"I have so many reasons why I should stop, but every time I think about that one or two kids, I can still do it. I still got some years left. I can still do it. And that's why I do it."

William encourages more people, single or not, to foster and/or adopt children.

So far this year, there are 740 children available for adoption in Florida.

If you want to make a difference and give a child a forever home – contact our partner Forever Family at 1-888-365-family or go to ForeverFamily.org.

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