Ceremony marks citizenship for adopted youngsters

Four-year-old Jillian Kaler, standing in a shiny red dress with her right hand raised, quietly repeated, as best she could, the Oath of Allegiance.

"I absolutely . . . renounce and abjure," she mouthed, following after the U.S. immigration official and twisting a strand of black hair around her finger, "all allegiance . . . to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty . . . of which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen."

Then, beaming, the Bayport youngster stepped up to receive her citizenship certificate, all by herself.

Sixteen children adopted from abroad became American citizens Thursday in a celebration of Adoption Day at Federal Plaza in Manhattan. Adoption Day is Saturday.

The ceremony, marked by laughter and tears and a flurry of snapshots, was the first of its kind held by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

It was more party than process: Children derive citizenship from their parents and are not required to swear an oath, as adults are. Parents must file paperwork and come into the office to obtain a certificate.

For Eileen Kaler, the naturalization hall's abundant flags brought her back to the moment in June 2007 when she stood in a Guanxi, China, hotel conference room decked with flags from around the world, waiting to hold Jillian for the first time.

"She was half asleep," Kaler, 44, recalled. "Her hair was in ponytails. She was wearing this little knitted backpack that her foster mom had made for her. I thought, 'Oh my God, it finally happened.' "

The Kalers had begun exploring adoption from China because they were having trouble conceiving. When their daughter Riley was born seven years ago, they stuck to the plan.

"In our mind, a girl from China was part of our family," said Bob Kaler, 44.

Now they have three girls, including Darby, 2, who Thursday wore a sparkly silver dress and white tights, like her big sisters.

Thursday's new young citizens, some squirming in their parents' arms, held their hands to their hearts for the national anthem, watched a video presentation by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and gleefully unwrapped gifts to mark the occasion: snow globes of the Capitol building.

"It's the White House!" said Faith Sadowsky, 11, of Hauppauge, a fifth-grader at Forest Brook Elementary School whose adoption from China at age 8 was the subject of a documentary that aired on PBS in August.

Born with a club foot and a congenital disorder affecting her wrist joints, she now does tap and jazz dance.

"I'm going to be Chinese-American," she said, holding the snow globe in her lap. "I feel really good about it. I like America."

She sat in a row with her parents, Jeff and Donna Sadowsky, her brothers Jason, 18, and Jared, 15, and her sister, Darah, 6, who was also adopted from China.

"It's a really emotional thing," said Donna Sadowsky, tears welling in her eyes. "You go through so much with the paperwork - just to look at her and say, 'Yup, this is it, you're ours, you're here, you're an American now.' "

Across the room, Peter Mileo, 2, of Mineola grabbed American flags from empty seats and dropped them on the floor. Another flag waved across the chest of his blue knit sweater.

His mother, Ioanis Mileo, who brought him home from South Korea last year, scooped up the toddler and offered him a graham cracker.

With the cracker in one hand, and a flag in another, he sat on the edge of the stage as some of the older children recited the Pledge of Allegiance.

Behind him, Faith grinned at the camera in her brother's hand.

Jillian snuggled in her mother's lap.