After a long journey toward adoption for 21 McLennan County families, the only thing left to do Friday was celebrate.
Outside the Baylor Law School courtroom where Judge Nikki Mundkowsky finalized each adoption on McLennan County Adoption Day, families posed in front of a backdrop for their first official family photo together and left with gift baskets and cakes.
Beyond the courtroom, faculty and student volunteers turned the first floor of the building into a superhero-themed festival, full of games and volunteers dressed as characters from the Disney film “The Incredibles.” Throughout the building, kids ran through an obstacle course, played with giant bubble wands and showed off balloon animals to their parents.
National Adoption Day exists to raise awareness about children in the U.S. foster care system. Baylor law professor Bridget Fuselier organizes McLennan County’s event every year, along with Baylor Law’s Public Interest Legal Society and the Department of Family and Protective Services.
To mark the occasion, Fuselier donned a black wig as wide as her shoulders and an oversized pair of circular glasses to play Edna Mode, the eccentric fashion designer who works behind the scenes to help the superhero family in “The Incredibles.”
“I thought it would be a great idea to take them out of the courthouse, where all the bad things had happened, and celebrate,” Fuselier said. “This also shows the law students some of the positive things we can do as a lawyer.”
Fuselier said one of the first pro bono cases she took after graduating from Baylor was an adoption case slated for Adoption Day.
“I got my case file, I sat down and started reading it and I just cried my eyes out,” she said. “Reading about the things this little boy had been through in life already, I realized I was just going to have a small role in helping him have his forever family.”
She has taken a case every year since then and has seen harrowing cases of children coming to the foster care system after enduring abuse and neglect.
“There’s situations where no matter what, they weren’t able to have a safe and healthy home,” Fuselier said. “It’s really quite horrific, what a lot of these kids have been through.”
Fuselier said it is not just families who come to Adoption Day to celebrate. Last year, a fourth-grade class from Lorena came to the event to celebrate their classmates’ adoption.
Rhevyn Rhemi Rhae Savage, 2, was one of the 24 children who had their adoptions finalized during this year’s event. Her adoptive father, James Savage, said Rhevyn lived with his family since she was three days old.
“We knew it would be the best thing to keep her, because she’d grown up close to us,” Savage said. “It just felt right.”
Alasia Hunt, now officially Rhevyn’s sister, said while the day is a happy one for her family, Rhevyn has been family from the day she came home.
“From the very first time we laid eyes on her, we all knew we were in love with her,” Hunt said. “This day changes nothing for anyone in our family, because we’ve had her for so long that she’s always been part of our family. This has been a long time coming.”
The Finch family came to Adoption Day wearing matching T-shirts they made to commemorate their adoption of Harley and Wyatt Finch, both 2 years old.
Their mother, Kassye Finch, said she was not entirely sure what to expect when she agreed to become a foster parent. She said anyone considering doing the same should brace themselves for a process that can feel uncomfortably invasive at times.
“Be ready to open your home,” Finch said. “It’s not just a [child] who comes into your home, it’s the adoption agency, it’s Child Protective Services, and it’s a lot of different people.”
Now that the lengthy, emotional process is complete, she said all that is left for her family to do is enjoy the celebration, go for an ice cream run and go home.
— WACOTRIB
— WACOTRIB
