VIDEO: Officer Sheffert’s Incredible Decision

Officer Brandon Sheffert met 16-year-old Anthony Schultz in September 2014. He decided to investigate and find out more about the young boy’s living situation. He began visiting him at his apartment complex, where he learned that the teenager was sharing a 1-bedroom apartment with seven family members. Eventually, the two became good friends, but Anthony’s home life was rapidly deteriorating. Officer Brandon got a call one night from Anthony’s mother telling him she “can’t take” the boy anymore, so Sheffert and his wife made a life-changing decision for Anthony. They first took him in while his mother sorted things out, but that never happened, so they eventually took the boy into their home as their own son. For the first time in his life, Anthony had the warmth, love, and stability of a healthy family. Watch the full heartwarming story for yourself!

Read the full story below, provided by Liftable.

It was September 2014 when 16-year-old Anthony Schultz was running down the road on a hot Arizona night. Eyeing the teenager from his patrol car, Officer Brandon Sheffert couldn’t shake the instinctual feeling that something about this kid was troubling. So, he stopped the boy and tried to talk to him, but young Anthony wanted nothing to do with a cop.

“Something about it bugged me, because I couldn’t get through to him,” said Sheffert. “He just seemed like there was something going on, and that there was something that was hurtful going on that he wouldn’t say.” Sheffert felt compelled to investigate the boy’s living situation and find out a little more about the mystery teen.

Sheffert began visiting Anthony at his apartment complex, where he learned that the teenager was sharing a 1-bedroom apartment with seven family members. “I kept coming over here, talking to him, spending time with him, getting to know him, getting to know the family, understand what’s going on,” Sheffert explained.

Eventually, the budding friendship evolved into a formal mentorship through the Reach & Rise Mentoring Program with the YMCA. “I had a role model, I had someone I could look up to, I had someone I could aspire to be,” Anthony explained.

But as the desperately needed mentorship flourished, Anthony’s home life was rapidly deteriorating. One night, Sheffert’s phone rang, and Anthony’s overwhelmed mother was on the line.

“You need to come take him,” Anthony’s mother said. “I can’t take him anymore.”

Sheffert was stunned. “I was like, ‘whoa, whoa, whoa. That doesn’t make sense,’” Sheffert recalled.

With nowhere else to go, no other family to turn to, Sheffert and his wife made a decision that would soon change Anthony’s life forever. They initially agreed that Anthony could live with them for several days, while Anthony’s mother sorted things out.

But things at home didn’t get sorted out, and when Anthony reached age 18 last November, he again had nowhere to live. “This kid just keeping getting hit over and over with things that no kid should have to go through,” a compassionate Sheffert expressed.

So, Sheffert and his wife did the unimaginable: they took Anthony into their home as their own son. For the first time in his life, Anthony had the warmth, love, and stability of a healthy family.

Anyone can write on Evonews. Start writing!