Young man who rescued an abandoned baby from a trash can 5 years ago now hopes to adopt the little one

Editor's note: This article was originally published on August 3, 2022. It has since been updated. 

In 2017, Jimmy Amisial took a trip to his home country, Haiti, to visit his mother. At the time, he was 22 years old and taking a short vacation from Texas State University, where he was studying communication and electronic media. As a teenager, he would volunteer at a local orphanage, so he decided to make a visit during his trip. On his way there, he came across a large group of people huddled around a trash can. He made his way to the front, where he discovered a 4-month-old baby inside the trash can. He proceeded to scoop the baby up and approached the police. Although they launched an investigation to find the baby's parents, they were never traced. In the years that followed, Amisial raised the little boy and was even legally declared his guardian. Now, he is hoping to formally adopt him, Good News Network reports.

"When I woke up that day, I was totally unaware that my life was about to change forever," he said in an interview with the media outlet. "People were crowding round this [trash] bin and I heard them arguing about what to do with this tiny baby. Everyone was just staring at him—not a single soul wanted to help." The day Amisial found him, he washed, clothed and fed the baby milk, before taking him to the hospital for a medical check-up. When the police could not trace the baby's parents, he decided to take a "leap of faith."

He explained, "I was already behind on my university fees and my family has always struggled to make ends meet. But I didn’t have a dad growing up, and this poor child was facing a lifetime of instability and uncertainty. Something inside was telling me that this had happened for a reason, so I took a leap of faith." Ever since, Amisial, now aged 27, has been flying back and forth between the United States and Haiti, where Elicie cares for the little boy. He has named him Emilio. At age five, he is just about to start school. Therefore, Amisial wishes to formally adopt him.

"I am glad I got the opportunity to transform his life from being abandoned in the trash to being a wonderful treasure," he shared. "I truly do feel like a father, and I am excited to put pen to paper and make Emilio my son. I just need to raise the money first. Mom loves him, the kids in the orphanage love him, and I love him as if he were my own. He really is a special little boy." According to his guardian, Emilio is a bright spark and loves music. When he is older, he hopes to be a musician. If you would like to help Amisial adopt the young boy, you can contribute to his GoFundMe here.