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Family's Love and Size Know No Limits
By Jamaal Abdul-Alim
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Monday, February 10, 2003
It's not that the couple take a lot of pictures. Rather, they've taken in a lot of children. Since 1966, they have been foster parents to more than 100 children and have adopted five of them. Even now, with Don at 72 and Beverly at 71, they don't want to be empty-nesters.
The couple — who raised six biological children — completed their most recent adoption last month and recently took in a 3-day-old baby.
The child they adopted most recently is Michelle, 4, a bright little girl who is fascinated by the "ellisons" (elephants) and other animals at the zoo whose names she can't quite pronounce.
"For them to be foster parents that amount of time with that many children shows the dedication and love they have for children," said Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Tim Witkowiak, who handled Michelle's adoption.
But Don and Beverly Leannais (lee-AHN-nis) brush off praise for helping children, something they have made a way of life.
"I wouldn't know what else to do," Beverly says. "I like to see the children progress."
Says Don: "She's good with kids. She helps kids."
The couple have taken in mostly infants over the years. One of the most memorable was a child they helped about 30 years ago, an infant boy named Tony who looked sullen and malnourished in a photograph taken when he first arrived. In a photograph taken four months later, he was smiling and healthy — the fruits of nurturing and love, Beverly says. Tony eventually was adopted by another family.
The Leannaises say that no matter what challenge a child presents, they never ask for a child to be removed from their home, something that often happens to children who remain in foster care for very long.
"That's too hard on a child," Don says.
The Leannaises help each other with parental duties. Beverly takes the children to school in the morning, and her husband picks them up in the afternoon.
"You couldn't do it alone," she says.
"It's a team thing," her husband adds.
The Leannaises are the adoptive parents of Lynell Kream, 31; Nicholas Leannais, 30; Michael Anthony Thomas, 25; Kamaal Samuel Leannais, 22; and Michelle.
Lynell is married to a doctor and lives in North Carolina. Nicholas is married, has a son and lives in Minnesota, where he works various entry-level jobs. Michael and Kamaal still live at home.
Michael, who is blind, has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair, spends his days at the Curative Medical Day Services program. His photograph appeared on the cover of a recent annual report for the Curative Care Network.
When the Leannaises need help moving Michael around, Kamaal lends a hand.
Kamaal is athletic. A photograph of him jumping over a hurdle appeared in a newspaper last year, when Kamaal was recognized as an Outstanding Special Olympics Athlete. He has a Special Olympics plaque dated Aug. 22, 2002. It says: "Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt."
Kamaal holds down a part-time job lining the shelves at a grocery store.
The Leannaises say people often overlook how much individuals like Kamaal contribute to society. "These kids offer a lot to the world," Beverly says. "They work at McDonald's. They work at grocery stores."
Don, a retired warehouse worker, said: "This kid is working and making money for himself. That's important."
They plan to help their youngest child, Michelle, in the same way. "I want her to get the best she can get," Don says of her education. The girl has been with the couple since she was 8 months old.
The Leannaises have cared for children from different ethnic groups: African American, Filipino, Native American.
"I don't think I have ever met such colorblind people in my life," says attorney Craig Miller, who served as guardian ad litem for Michelle. "They don't have black kids and white kids," Miller says. "They just have kids."
"They're all people," Don says, adding he doesn't like to think of kids as foster children or adopted children. "They're our kids," he says. "These are my kids."
And the children cling to Don and Beverly as parents — even after they've moved on, the Leannaises say. That, Don says, is one of the most rewarding things about being a foster parent.
"You know what's important? It's to have a child you had at age 3 call you at age 18 and say, 'Hey, Pop. How are you doing? I love you. How's Ma?' "
Beverly says Michelle will be the last child she adopts. "I think I'm too old," she says, seated at the kitchen table as Michelle barrages her parents with a multitude of questions and observations.
The Leannaises insist that what they do isn't special.
"There's a lot of people doing a lot of good out there," Don says.
And Beverly Leannais says if she had to adopt another child, she would. "But there's homes out there that are waiting for kids."
By the same token, there also are children out there who are waiting for homes. Children who have never been in anyone's family photo album because they've never had a family — never had anyone like Don and Beverly Leannais.
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