Woman, 61, becomes first-time mom of 5
Foster parent adopts sisters 13 and under
Published: December 16, 2009, 12:06 pm
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This was not your typical courtroom scene.
The judge wore her robe, but she didn't sit high above the proceedings in the packed courtroom. Instead, Erie County Family Court Judge Margaret O. Szczur sat at a glass-topped table Tuesday afternoon, chatting with five fidgeting young girls, 13 and under.
The girls had arrived at the courthouse in style, in a black Lincoln Town Car limousine, with their new mother.
And when the legal proceedings ended, about 10 members of the standing-room-only crowd came forward to take photos with their cell phones.
At 2:56 p.m. Tuesday, after all the papers had been signed and all the legal questions answered, Szczur delivered her much-anticipated ruling.
"You are now, officially and finally, a forever family," she said, as about 40 witnesses broke into applause.
In the eyes of the law, Jessie Washington had become a first-time mother — five times over — at age 61. "I just felt like this weight was off my shoulder," Washington said minutes later. "I felt lifted up. The ultimate had happened."
Washington had adopted the five biological sisters: Telesha, 13; Jayla Infinity, 11; Ladaeja, 9; Lashaundra, 8; and Michelle Sayonna, 6.
All five girls have been living with the Buffalo woman for 3½ years, as foster children, after they previously had been split among three foster families.
Washington's dream of becoming a mother took her to the Gateway-Longview agency, where she signed up as a foster mother. Following a six-week course, she became the foster mother of Sayonna, then an infant with numerous medical issues, in September 2005.
Ladaeja and Lashaundra came two months later. The two oldest arrived in June 2006.
"It's a joy to take children in and love them," Washington said. "Now I know how a biological mother feels, because I can feel that same love. When they hurt, I hurt. I want them to have the best of everything — the best education, the best religious [upbringing], so they can be confident and know that somebody loves them."
The adoption won't change Washington's love for the girls. But it makes everything official and permanent, and she clearly was overjoyed about picking up the legal title of "mother."
"They don't have to go to school and have kids say they're in a foster home," she said. "They have a stable home, and it's going to feel permanent."
Gateway-Longview workers showed up in force Tuesday, reveling in the extremely rare event of a single woman in her early 60s becoming a first-time mother of five children. "She's at an age when she should be thinking of retirement," said Kathy Swenson, vice president of Gateway-Longview Foundation. "Instead, she's opened her heart and her home to children in need."
One of the happiest Gateway-Longview staff members was Michelle Federowicz, an adoption supervisor whose first name Sayonna has adopted.
"Jessie has always been committed to these kids, since Day One," Federowicz said. "Even when they gave her a run for her money, she wouldn't budge. But this makes it all forever."
Gateway-Longview officials tried to turn Tuesday's joyous event into a plea for more foster-care parents willing to take in the roughly 1,000 Erie County children in the system waiting for a home.
"I would tell people that they would make the world a better place if they could accept these children who don't have homes, who don't have anyone to love them," Washington said.
As the day approached to adopt the five girls, Washington hoped the court date would be Dec. 15, the 85th birthday of her father, Lincoln Williams.
"It really is a sign to me that these were my children when they were born," she said. "It means [their birth mother] had these children for me."
Just before Tuesday's courtroom appearance, Ladaeja, the 9-year-old, was asked what she might tell the judge about her new family.
"I'm going to say I like living in this family, because it's a peaceful family," she replied. "We have a good home, no violence, and people don't fight or drink or cuss or other stuff."
Washington was impressed: "That was nice. I didn't think kids thought about stuff like that."
Washington wrapped her arms around Ladaeja and gave her a big hug.
A mother's hug.
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