Texas Couple Fostered 173 Newborn Babies Over 36 Years
Peter D'Abrosca
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Hailed as “pro-life heroes” by the Christian Broadcasting Network, a Texas couple fostered 173 newborn infants over a period of 36 years.
Burrell and Leanna Lankford decided years ago that they wanted to become foster parents. After clearing it with their biological children, they began, according to CBN.
Fostering and adoption are often promoted as the alternative to abortion, but Americans are in desperate need of both. The Lankford’s certainly did their fair share.
“It all started in January 1976,” Lankford said. “Looking back, the now-77-year-old Austin, Texas, native said his wife, who died five years ago, ‘brought the issue up before the family and decided that she wanted to be a foster parent, so she asked me and the kids if we would be interested and everybody said ‘yes.'”
A neighbor discovered Lankford’s incredible feat when visiting the widower. There were baby photos all over the home.
“Looking at the number of pictures, she asked a question: ‘Well, how many?'” the neighbor asked Lankford. “He said, ‘over a hundred.'”
His neighbor submitted the story to a local radio station, where Lankford first received media attention.
He gave all the credit to his late wife:
For his part, Lankford insists fostering so many babies wasn’t really an inconvenience because they just fell into a routine.
“Feeding, bathing and getting ’em dressed,” he said. “You’ve got to give all the credit to the foster moms. In my case, I worked during the day. [My wife was] here all day long, working with the babies.”
With two biological kids of their own, Lankford said the family went about their normal business and the babies just tagged along. There were several times, in fact, the family had three babies at one time.
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