Columnist Sandra Thompson: Annual adoption fair aims to dispel myths

Sandra Thompson

Sunday, Oct. 31, 1999 | 10:10 a.m.

Sandra Thompson is vice president/associate editor of the Las Vegas Sun. She can be reached at 259-4025 or through e-mail at thompson@lasvegassun.com.

WHEN DISTRICT Judge Nancy Saitta was starting out as an attorney, she often had to review legal records.

When the clerks were busy, she sometimes pulled the files herself. Little did she know that a very personal record was tucked away in a sealed file right under her nose.

She didn't find out about it until she sent for a copy of her birth certificate so she could apply for a passport. What she received was a surprise. Her birth certificate had been altered. Nancy Saitta, at age 38, learned she had been adopted.

She was stunned. She adored her parents. She and her brother grew up in a loving, supportive home. Then came another bombshell: Her brother also had been adopted.

Why hadn't her parents told her?

"If you knew my mother, you'd understand," Saitta says. "In her eyes, we were her children."

Saitta recalls her mother telling her: "From the first minute I held you, you were mine."

Her mother never said anything for fear the birth parents would come back and take her children from her.

Today the 48-year-old former child advocate for the Nevada attorney general's office knows a bit about her birth parents. Although she is curious about their medical history, Saitta has no desire to find her birth parents.

"My parents are the parents who raised me," she said. "They are the ones who are responsible for who I am today."

Saitta is a respected jurist and active member of the community. She's particularly involved in children's issues. For the last three years she has coordinated an adoption fair where people can meet or learn about children who need permanent homes.

This year's event is 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Nov. 13 at the Clark County Government Center, 500 Grand Central Parkway. There will be food and games in a fair-like setting outside. In the cafeteria will be representatives of adoption and related agencies. Information will be available on legal aspects, foster care, special needs, etc.

Most of the 82 children available for adoption are older, making them difficult to place. Some have special emotional or physical needs.

One of the major sponsors of the adoption fair is Wendy's fast-food restaurants. The chain's founder, Dave Thomas, has brought national attention to the need for adoptions through television and print advertising campaigns. Another fair supporter, Kerr-McGee Corporation, has pledged $10,000 scholarships to be awarded to two adopted children.

Other fair sponsors are the CASA Foundation, Clark County CASA Program and the Department of Child and Family Services.

Saitta hopes the fair will dispel adoption myths.

"You don't have to be rich or young to adopt," she says. "Single people also can adopt."

Children available for adoption will be featured in a Nevada Family Album. As much information as possible on their backgrounds will be provided to prospective adoptive parents.

Disclosure policies have come under scrutiny in the wake of a suit by the adoptive parents of Jeremy Strohmeyer, the 18-year-old who killed 7-year-old Sherrice Iverson in a Primm casino in May 1997.

John and Winifred Strohmeyer sued a Los Angeles County adoption agency for failing to disclose Jeremy's birth mother's mental illness. Had they known, they said, they would not have adopted the boy.

In Nevada, steps already have been taken to strengthen disclosure laws. A bill proposed by state Sen. Jon Porter, R-Boulder City, was passed during the 1999 legislative session that requires disclosure of information regarding any behavioral, emotional or psychological problems that a child or his birth parents may have.

It's understandable that prospective adoptive parents would be concerned about genetic factors. Hopefully, that would not be the sole consideration.

There is considerable debate on whether "bad" genes can be overcome by a "good" environment and loving home. If we blame a child's conduct solely on genetic disposition, what is the parents' responsibility?

The bottom line is that all children deserve a home, which is the theme of the adoption fair.

"We'd like to get these children out of the Nevada Family Album and into their own family album," Saitta says.