by David Chapman
Staff Writer
In his five years in dependency court, Judge David Gooding has connected more than 750 children to adopting families and out of the system.
During Thursday’s Family Support Services “Home for the Holidays” adoption celebration, he presided over 18 more cases that assisted 22 children.
It wasn’t just another day, though – it was Gooding’s final session, as the Circuit Court Judge has been reassigned from the Juvenile Division to the Criminal Division beginning Jan. 1.
“Many people have asked if today was bittersweet,” said Gooding. “It isn’t ... in the five years I’ve been here, we’ve gotten a lot of kids out of foster care and into a family.
“I’ve always said that government is a poor excuse for a family. We’ve helped give permanent homes.”
Gooding said that putting children in permanent homes does more than benefit a child’s present – it helps their future. He added that 75 percent of adopted children don’t find their way back in the courtroom as juvenile delinquents.
Gooding praised the work of his now former assistant, Michelle Weisheit, for helping make his job easier for the past year-and-a-half.
For Weisheit, though, the day was one to remember as she recently left the Fourth Judicial Circuit to take the role as program manager for Family Support Services’ “Wendy’s Wonderful Kids” program, which helps children move from foster care to permanent families.
For Shana Ingram and her children Savanna and Nicholas, the day wasn’t bittersweet but merely an end of a process, as the family was one of Gooding’s final adoption ceremonies.
“It’s been a long journey for us,” said Ingram, a 3rd-grade teacher at John E. Ford Elementary School. “They’ve(Savanna and Nicholas) been with us for five years, but this is the last leg for us.”
Ingram said it “means a lot” to be a part of the celebratory day, especially as one of Gooding’s last cases.
More importantly, though, Ingram said the timing – completed before Christmas – was nice.
Gooding agreed.
“Getting families together before Christmas,” said Gooding. “That’s part of what it’s all about.”
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