by Kent Jennings Brockwell
Staff Writer
After just being dressed down by the Florida Supreme Court last week for campaign finance violations, you wouldn’t think Circuit Judge David Gooding would be smiling.
But he is — from ear to ear.
Gooding is smiling because sitting on the corner of his desk is a shiny, new award that signifies a long standing Gooding family tradition of caring and adoption advocacy.
In Washington, D.C. last week, Gooding received an Adoption Excellence Award from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for his work in the courtroom to help the advancement of adoptive services in Duval County. Since Gooding took the bench in 2003, he has effectively cut through much of the red tape that bogged down the adoption process and has seen a 300- to 400-percent increase in the finalization of local adoptions.
The award recognizes Gooding’s creation of “Family Fridays”, a program where he sets aside time on Fridays to complete adoption finalizations so there are no delays related to scheduling court time. He was also commended for his “Open Mike Thursdays”, a popular program where court time is allotted for children awaiting adoption to have the chance to speak to Gooding directly without attorneys or case managers.
Though the award is prestigious and has brought national attention to Gooding’s work, he said it is not the pinnacle of his career. Instead, Gooding said his highest reward comes from helping with adoptions on a daily basis.
“When I see somebody step forward and take the role of parent for a child that needs a parent, that is the pinnacle,” he said. “I have a box in my closet filled with all of the awards that my father got. Maybe 40 years from now, this will be sitting in a box in one of my children’s offices. Awards are very temporal, but families are forever. When I finalize an adoption, I am merely affirming, legally, that which is already true in the hearts of these people before me — that they are family.
“Adoptions are important. Research confirms what our heart already knows, which is children thrive when they are in a loving, devoted family. The government is a poor substitute for a parent. The government does not have arms to hold, ears to listen or a heart to love children. We need more foster parents and adoptive parents.”
Though Gooding’s modern and creative approach to family court might have gotten him some time in the national spotlight and changed the way adoptions are handled in Duval County today, his passion for family law comes from a different era with less statutes and restrictions.
Gooding’s father, Judge Marion Gooding, was the sole Duval County juvenile court judge in the 1950s and 1960s. Though it would be unheard of today, Gooding recalls that his father would often open his own home to foster children when there was nowhere else for them to go.
“In those days, I am told there was a delinquency shelter but there was no provision if the child was picked up on an emergency basis. There was no place for them unless they could find a foster home,” said Gooding. “Frequently, my father would get a call on Friday or Saturday night ... and I would hear him on the phone talking to law enforcement and hear him say, ‘Well, bring them to our house.’”
As the youngest of six kids, Gooding said it would get a little crowded when his father brought home foster children for the weekend but remembered that it was more like a sleep over than having some strange child in the house. He said the children were treated like family. They were fed, given clothes and even accompanied the family to church on Sunday mornings, he said.
“I was one of six kids so there were always plenty of hand-me-downs,” he said. “We didn’t have beds for everybody but when we had sometimes three or four kids come over, I can remember we would just make pallets on the floor in the living room and make forts out blankets and card tables and it was just great fun. I was young and didn’t understand all of the bad stuff that was going on. They were just playmates for the weekend. They were just like family.”
Now in 2005, Duval County has four juvenile judges instead of one and a very different social services system. But Gooding said he has inherited the exact same passion that his father had for finding permanent homes for children in need of a good family.
“This is the greatest job I could ever have,” said Gooding.