Area families, officials celebrate the long and lovely process of adoption

Some families are born together, some families are built.

The adoption celebration Friday night gave recognition to those that go through the often long legal process to become a family. About 40 people attended the event, which also took place during National Adoption Week, with today being National Adoption Day. The celebration was put on by the Second Judicial District Court Appointed Special Advocates, or CASA program, to honor adoptions that happened as recently as a few months ago and as far back as 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Magistrate Judge Victoria Olds addressed each family as they came to a stage to receive a sign with their names and their adoption date on it and each child got to pick out a stuffed animal.

She commended the families for their commitment to the children and for opening up their homes. More than one family has told her that their adopted child filled a hole in their family. Olds said that sometimes the adoptions are “destiny.”

“With these adoptions it’s just one of the things that sticks with us (judges), that stays with us,” Olds said. “It’s a way of us seeing the good in the world.”

Olds said that some of the cases become familiar to the judges and those involved get to see the children grow.

“Some of these kids are growing like weeds,” she said.

Tori Rountree was there with her son, Nick, who gave Olds a big hug when he went on the stage. Even though Magistrate Judge Megan Marshall in Latah County did his adoption, Olds handled his entire case. Tori Rountree said she’s like a member of the family.

“It’s nice to be around people we consider family,” Tori Rountree said.

Another one of those “family members” was Nick’s CASA worker, Sharon Curtis. The family sends her photos of Nick and go to her house for Christmas.

“Nick’s one of my favorites,” Curtis said. “We take a really personal interest in our foster kids. I’m like his grandma.”

Nick wasn’t the only one who reconnected with a friend from their adoption. Phaedra Cousins was there with her parents, Nathaniel and Chawna Cousins, but she chose to sit with Olds.

“She’s my friend,” Phaedra said.

Chawna explained that Olds handled Phaedra’s entire case. Judge Marshall was going to do the adoption, and also did the couple’s marriage in July, but let Olds do it instead.

“Judge Olds was very happy to finish what she started,” Nathaniel said of the 2½-year case.

But Marshall was present at the adoption that took place in August and in person. Before that, all the meetings were on Zoom.

“It was kinda neat to end in the courtroom,” Chawna said.

Phaedra was wearing the shirt and tie at the event that she wore to the adoption just three months ago.

“The adoption officialness is still very fresh,” Chawna said.

Although the adoption made it official, Chawna said that Phaedra was her daughter from the moment she was in their care as a foster child.

“She was always my daughter,” she said. “The finality was a weird official thing, but the emotional finality, it was always there.”

Phaedra was holding her stuffed animal, a bear with a University of Idaho Vandals shirt on it. Her decision, however, wasn’t based on any fan loyalty.

“It was cute,” she said.

Phaedra wasn’t the only one with a Vandal bear. Zeke Mikami was also showing off his UI stuffed bear. He was there with his parents, Hollie and Matthew.

They also had their adoption through Zoom during the COVID-19 pandemic. They were also worried that the pandemic would delay his adoption. He had been with the family since he was 18 months old and he’s now 6 years old.

He wasn’t a foster child. His biological mom asked Hollie and Matthew to be his parents and he still has a relationship with his biological family.

“We decided to take him for a week and he stayed,” Hollie said.

The talkative kindergartner said that he likes to play at school and likes cars, which his dad, Matthew, confirmed.

“I’m gonna be like that forever,” Zeke said.

Sasha Gordanier had a long wait to publicly celebrate the adoption of her daughter, Kennedy. They were one of the first Zoom adoptions that took place, in June 2020.

“It was hard because it feels more final in a courtroom,” she said.

But she was thankful that the adoption took place. At first she was worried it would be postponed until after the pandemic. They also let the family talk with each other on the Zoom meeting.

The Gordaniers did have a small family celebration with quarantine family members, but a big in-person event with others was welcomed.

“This brought it all back around,” Sasha said.

Michael van Houten was there with his family, including his five children, who were all adopted exactly a year ago. It was a good family event to celebrate the occasion. They were all wearing black and red plaid shirts for family photos that were being taken at the event.

Ashley Peavey was there with her daughter, Natalie, and enjoyed being able to see other families face to face, rather than on Zoom. Natalie was enjoying the desserts, especially the hot cocoa.

Ashley said that adopting Natalie “made our family complete.” She was appreciative of everyone involved in making the adoption process smoother, from judges, CASA workers, social workers and lawyers.

During the presentation, glass hearts were given to social workers, CASA volunteers and staff. Each person was given a number of hearts based on the numbers of families they helped in the last three years. Zenita Delva, executive director of the Second Judicial District CASA program, has a bowl sitting on her own desk and it serves as a reminder of all the people she’s helped.

The event also included a speech from Lewiston Mayor Dan Johnson, who began by saying that the members of the audience know more about the subject of adoption than he does. He said that adopting a child is a “profound and life-changing decision” and a “journey of love and compassion.” He also called on others to support families during the process that can be challenging as cases go through the legal system. Johnson also encourraged them to lend a listening ear.

Johnson read parts of the section of Idaho code about child adoption saying that “this is boring stuff, I know” but it’s the longest paragraph of Idaho code he’s ever read, which he said signifies the importance of it.

Magistrate judges, Karin Seubert and Sunil Ramalingam were also present, along with Olds. Seubert addressed the crowd and thanked Delva for putting the event together to give the families an opportunity to celebrate.

She said the closed proceedings for several years had been over Zoom and it was good to see everyone in person “rather than seeing you in blocks and squares on the screen.” She called it an honor to be part of bringing the families together through legal confirmation.

“The courthouse is not always a particularly happy, joyful place,” Seubert said. “A real bright part of our job is adoptions.”

Brewster may be contacted at kbrewster@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2297.