This Brooklyn 'forever dad' has fostered more than 50 young men over 12 years
When Guy Bryant was growing up, anyone who needed a place to go was welcome at his family's house. That's still the way it is today, with Bryant fostering more than 50 teenagers and young adults over the last 12 years.
The Brooklyn resident works at New York City's Administration for Children Services, and knows how hard it can be for older kids in the foster system to find placements. He took in his first foster youth shortly after he got divorced, and he's now a foster dad to four young men between the ages of 15 and 23. It doesn't matter if they are minors or aged out of the system — Bryant will help them with everything from their schoolwork to adjusting to adulthood. "This is my family," he told Inside Edition. "And it just makes me feel good to know that I'm part of whatever successes they have."
"I don't think he just takes people and puts them in a better place," his foster son Dior Dillard, 15, said. "To be honest, Mr. B saves lives." Bryant says he is their "forever dad," and estimates that he keeps in touch with about 80 percent of the men he's fostered. Gregory Bell, 20, spent time in nine foster homes before moving in with Bryant two years ago. Today, he has a job and is going to school. "The only thing Mr. B ever did was support and give everybody an idea for what they want to do for their future," he said. Catherine Garcia
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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