Two better than one for adoptive parents

The Richman family — from left, Kaleb, 9; Jennifer; Kamren, 8; Steve; Kaylee, 2; Katie, 5; and Kaden, 6 — react Tuesday to a clown who performed at a party organized by the Department of Children and Family Services as part of National Adoption Day. Katie and Kaylee were adopted by the Richmans on July 25. (STEVEN LANE/The Columbian)

Kaylee Richman, 2, left, and her sister Katie, 5, were among approximately 45 foster children adopted this year in Clark County. (STEVEN LANE/The Columbian)

Steve and Jennifer Richman had three sons when they started thinking pink: They decided that, for a fourth child, they’d love a little girl.

They checked into domestic and international adoption but soon realized they didn’t need to go far to find children in need of a loving, stable home.

“We found out there were a lot of little boys and girls right here who needed help,” said Jennifer Richman.

The Salmon Creek couple ended up expanding their family by two when they adopted sisters.

Steve and Jennifer, both 31, and their children — Kaleb, 9; Kamren, 8; Kaden, 6; Katie, 5; and Kaylee, 2 — were at a party Tuesday at the Department of Children and Family Services’ office in downtown Vancouver. The celebration was in observance of National Adoption Day and included some of the families who gave approximately 45 foster children permanent homes this year in Clark County.

National Adoption Day was founded in 2000 to raise awareness of the thousands of foster children awaiting permanent homes, said Lorrie Thompson, communications director for the state Administrative Office of the Courts.

She said more than 10,000 children are in foster care statewide, and about one-fifth are available for adoption. About 500 children are in foster care in Clark County, but not all are available for adoption because their parents’ rights have not been terminated, a legal procedure that usually falls to Clark County Superior Court Judge Edwin Poyfair.

But Poyfair also presides over adoptions. It’s the one bright spot on a court calendar consisting mostly of divorcing couples bickering over who gets what.

“All of a sudden, you see ‘unselfish’ come to light,” he said of the adoptive parents he meets on Fridays.

On July 25, Poyfair made Katie and Kaylee official members of the Richman family.

Jennifer said she and her husband met Kaylee first. When Kaylee was born in July 2006, she had drugs in her system and stayed at Southwest Washington Medical Center for four weeks to go through detox. Then the Richmans took her home.

“I just immediately fell in love, head over heels,” said Jennifer, who stays at home with the children while Steve works at Intel.

When Kaylee was three months old, however, she was sent to live with her grandmother.

Six months later, her grandmother called the Richmans. She said she knew she wasn’t going to be able to care for Kaylee permanently and that Kaylee’s birth mother’s rights were going to be terminated. She wanted the Richmans to adopt Kaylee. But on the condition they would also adopt Kaylee’s older sister.

The Richmans didn’t hesitate.

“We just took them. There were just no questions,” Jennifer said.

The girls came to live with them a year ago. There was no problem making room for the girls in the couple’s five-bedroom house or in their Suburban.

The grocery bills went up, Jennifer said, and it takes a little longer to get ready to go places.

But the positive consequences of adopting the two girls are too many to count.

“We feel very blessed,” Jennifer said.

Stephanie Rice: 360-735-4549 or stephanie.rice@columbian.com.