他放棄了單身生活，收養(yǎng)了50多個孩子

Guy Bryant never intended to be a father figure. But for the past 12 years, he's housed more than 50 foster kids in his Brooklyn apartment.
蓋伊·布萊恩特從來沒有想過要當一個父親。但在過去的12年里，他在布魯克林的公寓里收養(yǎng)了50多個孩子。
For decades, Bryant, 61, worked with teens aging out of New York's child welfare system. His job was to find services that would make the transition to living on their own easier.
幾十年來，61歲的布萊恩特一直在幫助紐約兒童福利系統(tǒng)的青少年。他的工作是尋找能讓他們更容易過渡到獨立生活的服務(wù)。
But he felt that what he could accomplish at the New York City Administration for Children's Services office wasn't enough. So in 2007, he decided to become a foster parent.
但他覺得，他在紐約市兒童服務(wù)管理局辦公室所能取得的成就還不夠。所以在2007年，他決定成為一名養(yǎng)父母。
In a StoryCorps interview last month, Bryant told Romario Vassell, 21, one of his foster children, that agreeing to caring for him "was definitely one of the best decisions I made in foster care."
上個月，在一次故事團的采訪中，布萊恩特對他21歲的養(yǎng)子羅馬里奧瓦塞爾說，同意照顧他“絕對是我作為養(yǎng)父母的最好的決定之一”。 Bryant told Vassell that he was nervous when he took in his first foster child.
布萊恩特告訴瓦塞爾，當他收養(yǎng)第一個孩子的時候，他很緊張。
His first foster kid showed up two weeks earlier than planned. Guy knew he'd be a parent soon, but not so suddenly, and not that night.
他的第一個寄養(yǎng)孩子比原計劃提前兩周出現(xiàn)。蓋伊知道他很快就要為人父母了，但不是那么突然，也不是那天晚上。
"I lived alone at that point, and he was a kid that nobody wanted to take because of his behaviors. He got in a fight and he appeared at my house," Bryant said.
“那時我一個人住，因為他的行為，沒有人愿意收養(yǎng)他。他打了一架，就出現(xiàn)在我家，”布萊恩特說。
Bryant says his family thought he was out of his mind for making such a big lifestyle change. His ex-wife also wondered how Bryant would adjust.
布萊恩特說，他的家人認為他的生活方式發(fā)生如此重大的改變真是瘋了。他的前妻也想知道布萊恩特將如何適應(yīng)。
"I don't know about this," Bryant recalled her telling him. "You just so set in your ways."
“我不知道這件事，”布萊恩特回憶她對他說。“你太固執(zhí)了。”
"I said, 'I can do this.' She said, "I know you can if you put your mind to it.' "
“我說，‘我能做到。’她說:‘只要你下定決心，我就知道你能行。’”
Bryant suggested that Vassell, then a disheveled 18 year old, consider foster care as an option to get out of the homeless shelter where he was staying.
布萊恩特建議當時還是個頭發(fā)蓬亂的18歲少年瓦塞爾，考慮把寄養(yǎng)作為離開他所住的收容所的一個選擇。
At first, Vassell was hesitant. "I didn't know how foster care was. I've heard crazy stories," he said.
一開始，瓦塞爾有些猶豫。“我不知道寄養(yǎng)是怎么回事。我聽過一些瘋狂的故事，”他說。
Eventually, he agreed to stay with Bryant.
最終，他同意留在布萊恩特身邊。
Bryant hasn't looked back on his decision to become a foster parent. "You know, every time I turned around there was a kid who needed a place to stay," he said. "I felt like, it's so simple. If you have the space in your home and heart, you just do it. You don't really think about it."
布萊恩特并沒有后悔自己要當養(yǎng)父母的決定。“你知道，每次我回過頭看，就有一個孩子需要一個地方住，”他說。“我覺得，就是這么簡單。如果你的家里和心里有足夠的空間，你就去做吧。你不會真的在意它。”
At one point, Bryant said he had nine kids living with him so he moved to a bigger place.
有一次，布萊恩特說有9個孩子和他住在一起，所以他搬到了一個更大的地方。
The kids who've moved out of Bryant's still have their keys to his place, he said. The kids he has fostered often return on Sundays for a meal together that Bryant cooks.
他說，那些從布萊恩特家搬出去的孩子仍然擁有他的房子的鑰匙。他養(yǎng)的孩子們經(jīng)常在星期天一起回來吃布萊恩特做的飯。