29 Adoptions in Seattle Finalized on National Adoption Day!

Court finalizes 29 adoptions
By PAUL NYHAN
P-I REPORTER

Most parents meet their children in the delivery room, a few even earlier in their dreams, but Kymberli Nelson met her daughter Maci in the emergency room.

Three years ago, a foster care coordinator called Nelson to ask if she would take on the severely malnourished baby girl, though only if Maci survived the night. Nelson didn’t hesitate, driving her Cadillac to Valley Medical Center to pick up a 10-month-old baby, who weighed only 13 pounds, the next day.

It was a heartbreaking beginning. Maci’s eczema was so bad, nurses wrapped her hands and feet in gauze because they thought she had scabies.

Last May, Kymberli and her husband, Jerry, made it official, formally adopting a thriving Maci. On Friday, they added 3-year-old Jeremy to their family, one of 29 adoptions made final in a Seattle courtroom as part of National Adoption Day.

“It is completely overwhelming that we are through it,” said Kymberli Nelson, 44. “It is just such a wonderful feeling.”

It was wonderful, but it wasn’t a short or easy journey to the King County Courthouse. Adoption is often a tedious, prolonged emotional roller coaster, but the Nelsons endured devastating losses before Friday’s success.

Four years ago, the couple cared for infant twins, when a biological grandmother emerged to take over raising the babies.

Then last June they lost a girl, after multiple mental disorders overwhelmed her and the family.

Friday was a happier day. The extended Nelson clan waited near the back of the usually serious courtroom that was festooned with purple, orange and white balloons and more than 30 teddy bears that sat where court officers often stood.

And there was the Mariner Moose, who was there to pass out the bears, not indictments. There were also parents in their 20s, 30s, 40s and even 50s, waiting to adopt babies, toddlers and middle-schoolers.

They were there for Seattle’s sixth annual Adoption Day, a holiday designed to remind people that thousands of foster care children are waiting for permanent homes.

By the end of Saturday, courts are expected to make 3,330 adoptions final across the country. The courts would like to be even busier.

In Washington alone, there are more than 1,800 children — 400 in King County — in foster care waiting to be adopted, and 300 of those children have no one in the picture hoping and waiting to adopt them, according to the Department of Social and Health Services.

In recent years, states have made progress, moving more older children, groups of siblings and children with special needs into permanent homes, thanks largely to two new federal statutes.

The number of foster children adopted in the state more than doubled in the last 10 years, said Tammy Cordova, in charge of programs and policy at the DSHS’ Children’s Administration.

Friday, the relief that another of those 1,800 children was crossed off the list was obvious on Jerry Nelson’s face as he handed out blue bubble gum cigars proclaiming: “It’s A Boy.”

“As tough a road as it’s been, today is just totally proof it was worth it.”

RESOURCES
If you want more information about adoptions in Washington, check the Department of Social and Health Services adoption Web site at goto.seattlepi.com/r1124.

People interested in becoming a courtappointed special advocate for abused or neglected foster care children can call CASA at 206-667-9716 or check washingtonstatecasa.org.

P-I reporter Paul Nyhan can be reached at 206-448-8145 or paulnyhan@seattlepi.com.