Creating a family: judge makes a hospital call to finalize an adoption.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Call it room service--with a judicial twist.

When an adoptive mother couldn't make it to court because she was stuck in the hospital, the judge came to her bedside to carry out the adoption.

"My logic is: It's not uncommon--probably twice a year--I will go in someone's home to create a family by performing a wedding. Why can't I go to a hospital to create a family through adoption?" asked Fourth Circuit Judge David Gooding.

He wasn't about to let an inconvenient hospitalization cancel something as important as creating another family in time for the holidays.

Tonia Dixon, a teacher of autistic children at Bay View Elementary in Jacksonville, was excited about her future with one special little girl who'd come into her life.

When little Nyeemah was only a month old, Dixon took her in as a foster child. Now, 17 months later, they were on the brink of officially becoming mother and daughter at a special December 20 adoption ceremony for 69 children at the Duval County Courthouse called "Home for the Holidays."

The courtroom would be decorated with balloons and Christmas stockings, and Dixon's parents would be there snapping pictures.

But, as luck would have it, three days before the big event, Dixon landed in a hospital room at Baptist Medical Center with a blood clot and to balance her medications for a kidney transplant she'd had three years earlier.

The evening before the ceremony, Dixon's lawyer, K.C. Tusher of Jacksonville, shot Judge Gooding an e-mail about the disappointing turn of events. Judge Gooding saved the day by volunteering to conduct the adoption in the hospital room after the court ceremony.

"This is absolutely the best ever. Just slip me a note with the room number and hospital name, and I will come as soon as we get through downtown," Gooding responded to Tusher in an e-mail.

And so Room 525 became a makeshift courtroom.

Wearing a hospital gown, and an IV drip on her arm, 41-year-old Dixon became a mother, while Judge Gooding took her testimony, administered the oath, and made the creation of a new family official under the law.

Nancy Dreicer, Department of Children and Families Northeast Florida region director, presented the new daughter a bag of toys and the new mom a rose, saying, "The people of the State of Florida are happy for you."

Dixon's parents, lawyer, caseworker, and nurses crowded around wearing grins.

Judge Gooding had all the evidence he needed to know it was the right decision.

"As...