Bobby Sharp and Everett Kamuchey have been named “Foster Parents of the Year” according to the Orlando Sentinel.  The Florida Coalition for Children gave the couple this honor during the coalition’s 2018 annual conference in Boca Raton.

Over the last five years, Sharp and Kamuchey have taken in “some 20 children,” and are believed to be the first LGBTQ couple to receieve the honor, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

The event had over 600 attendees, and brought together some of the state’s top child welfare advocates and agencies with the goal of “celebrating, educating, and inspiring Florida’s community of care,” according to the Florida Coalition for Children’s website.

Sharp, 45 and Kamuchey, 39, won awards alongside other categories including Therapist of the Year, and Support Staff of the Year.

“You have to be a foster parent for the right reasons,” Sharp told the Sentinel. “It should be about taking care of these children, wanting them to be with their families, and being prepared to go the extra mile for them.”

 The couple lived in Orange County while they fostered abused, neglected and abandoned children. They ultimately adopted three of the children they fostered and recently moved to South Carolina, the newspaper reported.