Fairfield residents participate in National Adoption Day ceremony

OTTUMWA – Fairfield resident Therese Cummiskey was the guest speaker at an adoption ceremony Saturday, Nov. 23 in the Wapello County Courthouse in Ottumwa.

Cummiskey was invited to speak by the judge who presided over the ceremony, fellow Fairfield resident Pat McAvan, who is an associate judge for the Eighth Judicial District. McAvan is assigned to juvenile court cases in Jefferson, Washington, Keokuk, Van Buren and Mahaska counties, so not normally Wapello County where this ceremony took place. McAvan said that, due to other judges being unavailable that day, he was offered to opportunity to preside over the ceremony where 14 children were adopted into nine families.

The event coincided with National Adoption Day, which is celebrated on the Saturday before Thanksgiving. McAvan said the courtroom is set aside for only adoptions that day, and it allows family members to come to the event and turn it into a celebration.

“It was an emotional day,” McAvan said. “Adoptions are the best thing I do. There are not a lot of happy reasons that people come to court, but this is one. It was great to be a part of it, and it lived up to my expectations. I’d love to participate in it again.”

McAvan said he hopes to raise awareness of the need for foster families. In the U.S., more than 108,000 children are in foster care awaiting adoption.

“In Iowa, the number of foster homes has continued to decline,” he said. “Anything we can do to support foster families, and to encourage more people to consider being foster families, we need to do.”

After McAvan agreed to be the presiding judge, he asked the court administration who the guest speaker was. They said it’s usually somebody who has a connection to the adoption system or who has been through the process, but they didn’t have anybody in mind.

“I told them, ‘I know someone who I think would be really great’ because I had Therese in mind immediately,” McAvan said, adding that he knows Cummiskey through St. Mary Catholic Church and through her previous job as Jefferson County Naturalist. “She’s made a career out of being great interacting with children, and as I indicated in my remarks, she’s a product of a loving adoptive home, and an advocate for children and adoption.”

Cummiskey said she was honored to speak at the event, and said it was one of her “top days of the year.”

“It was lovely to see these families, and the joy and excitement of making these adoptions official,” Cummiskey said. “I was either smiling or crying a little bit the whole time. You see the tears of the parents as they realize, ‘these kids are mine.’ It’s lovely. I’ve never been part of anything like that.”

Cummiskey said she has no memory of her own adoption day since she was adopted at 2 months of age. Cummiskey grew up in the small town of Currie in southwest Minnesota. She is the youngest of four siblings, all of whom were adopted.

“We all started life in different families, but we came together as a family, and for me it was a great blessing,” Cummiskey said. “I remember in college kids would ask me a lot of questions like, ‘What about your real mom?’ and I’d go, ‘She is my real mom.’ Adoption just means you’re chosen. We’re all the adopted sons and daughters of God, so I just got adopted twice.”

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Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com

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