Stingl: School goes to court to see classmate adopted
Abby Novotny was adopted into her loving family Monday, a solid excuse for missing the first day of school.
We can't even count the 10-year-old as absent because the school came to her. Nearly the entire student body of St. Coletta Day School crowded into the courtroom where Anne Novotny's petition to adopt her foster child was enthusiastically granted.
"Abby was so excited that her classmates were here. That was just amazing for her," Anne said.
They saw Abby sit in Circuit Judge Christopher Foley's chair high up on the bench and bang the gavel to make everything official.
St. Coletta Administrator Bill Koehn rolled up to Children's Court in Wauwatosa as part of a caravan of vehicles driven by school staff and parents. Located at St. Sebastian School in the Washington Heights neighborhood, St. Coletta has a student body numbering about two dozen. These are children with cognitive disabilities.
"It's just a great way to start our first day back. I have attended one of Anne's other adoptions, but we've never come as an entire school before," Bill said.
Anne is a frequent flier among adoptive parents. Abby, who came to Anne in 2013, is the eighth foster child she has adopted since 2002. Other children who have spent time at her home on Milwaukee's northwest side were successfully returned to their birth families.
She has one biological child, a son, age 30. Her adopted children now range in age from 8 to 26, are racially diverse and welcoming to each newly added family member, regardless of the special needs they bring and the trauma they have endured. Abby has two siblings also now attending St. Coletta.
"I'm so pleased that my kids are spending time in that amazing place with the amazing teachers," Anne said.
Anne, 50, is a divorced single parent and a social worker who, she quips, took her job home with her. It was not her plan to adopt even one child.
"I was going into foster homes. It made me a little sad, so I thought, all right, put your money where your mouth is. So I started fostering. I never had any clue it would morph into this," she said.
She looked so happy in court Monday, as did Abby, who wore a white dress and white shoes and her hair in a braid. Grandparents, most of Abby's sisters and a brother, and other relatives and friends were present.
"I get choked up even now," Anne told four television news cameras that pushed in for an interview after the adoption. "It never, ever is the same. It's always amazing and exciting. Honestly, I put it on the same level as giving birth to your child."
Once she adopted three children, ages 15, 14 and 11, the same day, all from one family. Two are now college grads and the third attends college. Anne also adopted two other siblings and their cousin.
"I really believe in families being together. That's why I have so many," she said.
Abby, who marked off days on the calendar in anticipation of the adoption, received cards and small gifts to mark the occasion. Her favorite appeared to be a painting of her new name, Abigail Novotny, a heart and Monday's date on a purple background. Abby asked her teacher, Rachel Lustig, if her name was put on her desk at school. She was assured it was.
After the court proceeding, friends, family and students headed to Hoyt Park for a celebration picnic and swimming.
Anne mentioned the old TV show title, "Eight is Enough," and laughed that the number of adoptions for her could rise more. She called her children a blessing who keep her young.
"I have an opening, so I'll be fostering again for sure," she said. "It will be when the phone call comes. It could be today. It could be a week."
Call Jim Stingl at (414) 224-2017 or email at jstingl@jrn.com. Connect with my public page at Facebook.com/Journalist.Jim.Stingl
