Peter Mutabazi and his family advocate for other kids in the foster care system, and they’re trying to help more kids with room makeovers ahead of the holiday.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A room of their own for Christmas is what a Charlotte father is trying to make possible for foster kids in the metro area.
Those are kids like Xzavier McGhee. He was just 12 years old when he first entered foster care.
“I had no time to say bye to friends or nothing I just had to pack my stuff and left,” McGhee said.
After stints in three homes, he landed in the house with the man he now calls Dad.
“It didn’t take long before he gave me a room makeover, and it made me feel very welcome,” McGhee added, something that’s not the norm for most kids like him. “When kids go into foster care and they live with a person, they get put in a room that is not really set up; I’ve been in rooms with a bed and maybe a dresser. It was blank, it was barren and had no life to it.”
Peter Mutabazi is trying to change that. He has almost a million followers on his Instagram page, @fosterdadflipper, and has fostered many kids over the years. He has six kids himself now. Mutabazi and his blended family advocate on behalf of other foster kids.
“It never feels like home, so for me, trying to give them an opportunity, to say ‘I want to give you dignity and give you opportunity to choose a room and make it how you want it,'” Mutabazi said.
He works with the nonprofit Home Sweet Hope, providing room makeovers for kids in foster care. So far, they’ve done 37 and have a waitlist for kids they’d like to help before Christmas.
Anthony came to live with Mutabazi when he was 11 years old, and was adopted by Mutabazi a few years later.
“A lot of foster kids don’t have control over their lives. It’s empowering, being able to pick your own room – something you can call yours. Being able to choose your own room affects mindset and attitude,” Anthony said.
That’s something Mutabazi knows all too well; he was homeless for a time as a child.
“I didn’t have a place to belong, and someone gave me a place to belong,” he said, “and that made me dream and think big, so our children need opportunity and to be seen and heard.”
If you’d like to help support the room makeovers, visit Home Sweet Hope’s website.
Contact Michelle Boudin at mboudin@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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