After 20 months of hearings conducted via Zoom because of the COVID-19 pandemic, family court in the 4th Judicial Circuit resumed group in-person adoption proceedings Oct. 29 at the Duval County Courthouse.
With Courtroom 407 decorated for Halloween, Circuit Judge Michael Kalil presided when 15 children became the new members of 11 families.
“It is a beautiful event. The families are giving the kids the love they deserve. Permanency is the goal, but really it’s about the love,” Kalil said.
Many of the children and their new families wore costumes for the standing-room-only event.
Before the hearings, Kalil swore in a girl who arrived dressed as a police officer to serve as honorary bailiff.
Shyla Sheppard, who was celebrating her 8th birthday Oct. 29, struck the gavel on the bench to open the hearings and was the first child adopted to legally join her new family.
“Now you have two birthdays,” Kalil said when Sheppard again used the gavel to close her hearing and make her adoption official.
The court works closely with Family Support Services of North Florida Inc. Established in 2001, the nonprofit is the lead agency for family preservation, foster care and adoption in Duval and Nassau counties.
Programs and services include training for parenting, financial management and other life skills designed to create stable environments for children from infants to 18 years of age who are in foster care or on the path to reunification with their families.
Family Support Services spokesman Octavius Davis said the court finalized 236 adoptions between Jan. 1 and Oct. 29.
With more than 250 children in need of care, Family Support Services is recruiting foster families and parents.
“If they can love a child and want to make a positive difference, we want to talk to them,” Davis said.
The court plans to schedule another group adoption ceremony, “Home for the Holidays,” in December, and similar proceedings in 2022 before Mother’s Day and possibly Father’s Day, Kalil said.