Just before Christmas, dozens of families gathered at the historic Madison County Courthouse in downstate Edwardsville, all for the same reason, summarized by only two words on the court docket.
Adoption Day.
For the past two years, Dawn Knutt has provided a loving home for her nieces, Riley, 8, and Leah, 6, supported by a Brightpoint foster care case manager who checked in regularly with the family. She wanted the girls to soak in the joyful atmosphere of the event, designed to lift the spirits of children who have been through more than their fair share of hardship and heartache.
“I knew I was the one who had to stand up and give them the love and the care that they wanted and deserved,” said Knutt, 50, reflecting on the day in a recent interview. “I’m going to raise them like they’re my own children.”
Once in the courtroom, it all happened quickly.
The girls, wearing matching light blue jackets, sat next to their aunt. The judge stepped down from his bench and approached them with a kind smile, giving each girl a teddy bear.
He returned to the bench to begin the proceedings, which lasted no more than 10 minutes. After a few rounds of questions and answers between an attorney and Knutt, the judge declared it official: Knutt was their adoptive mother.
Her nieces were her daughters now.
“That was an amazing day,” Knutt said. “I wanted to cry, but I couldn’t.”
Healing from loss
At the Adoption Day event – the last of the year in Illinois – the mood was undeniably festive. A judge moonlighting as Santa Claus grinned by a twinkling tree. Local college students dressed as superheroes and princesses posed for photos with the children.
Perspective is important, though, said Angie Nissen, program manager for Brightpoint’s Adoption Support and Preservation (ASAP) program.
“There’s no celebration of an adoption that doesn’t come from a place of loss,” Nissen said.
“There’s no celebration of an adoption that doesn’t come from a place of loss,” Nissen said.
Depending on the scenario, that could include loss of family, culture, language and identity, she said. That’s where Nissen and the ASAP team can help, providing free and voluntary post-adoption therapeutic support that’s rooted in the family.
A permanent loving home can start the healing process, Nissen said, particularly with therapeutic support. ASAP therapists work with children to build resilience in a safe space.
Before adopting her nieces, Dawn Knutt had to navigate her own personal loss. Last August, her beloved husband Dennis died of bone cancer. Asked if that tragedy caused her to reconsider adopting the girls, she said it only strengthened her resolve.
“If it wasn’t for Riley and Leah being here, making me laugh and smile every day, I’d be in the hospital losing my mind,” she said. “These kids are what keep me going.”
Reached by phone nearly two months after the adoption, Knutt said nothing much has changed in their daily lives. Lately, she’s been taking the girls swimming in an indoor pool to expend their seemingly boundless energy on cold winter days.
Someday, she knows, the girls will have more questions.
“They’re just amazing girls,” she said. “They will need a lot of guidance, but I’ll be here for them.”
A ‘kin-first’ approach
First and foremost, Brightpoint’s many programs and services strive to keep families together because that’s generally what’s best for the children. When the biological parents are unable to care for their children, for whatever reason, the focus shifts to placing children with kin.
So far this fiscal year, more than 71% of children placed in foster care through Brightpoint were placed with kin or fictive kin, preserving important family connections and leading to improved well-being for children.
“When children are placed with kin or fictive kin – which could be a coach or a teacher – it lessens the trauma of family separation,” said Emily Medere, vice president of child welfare for Brightpoint. “They’re more likely to remain connected with their family community. They’re also more likely to have better socioemotional health outcomes and less placement instability.”
Last year, Brightpoint’s Ahlquist Center for Policy, Practice & Innovation advocated for the passage of the Kinship in Demand (KIND) Act, which improved the pathway to licensure for kin caregivers. Kinship guardianship is another option that doesn’t require the termination of parental rights.
A “kin-first” approach also makes it more likely that siblings will stay together and not be placed in additional foster homes.
For Riley and Leah, that means they get to live with their Aunt Dawn (who they sometimes call Mom) on eight acres in the country, with plenty of dogs and cats and room to roam. Knutt’s daughter and 4-year-old granddaughter live on the adjacent property.
Together, they form one big family.