ETX VIEW: Fostering, adoption create special family for Goodgions
Published 5:30 am Saturday, July 5, 2025
In the right wing of the Goodgions’ Tyler home, laughter now fills rooms that were once silent. Years of fertility treatments and heartbreak left Catherine and Sam Goodgion wondering if they would ever become parents — until fostering and adoption changed their path.
“Many things have to go right to have a healthy child and a healthy pregnancy, all the way to birth,” Catherine said. “That whole process, going through [infertility], opened our eyes to what a miracle a child really is. I think that also helped us on our adoption journey, that there are all these wonderful, healthy, perfect babies that need a home.”
In East Texas, groups like the Fostering Collective and Heart Gallery East Texas work hard to connect children in foster care with families. Heart Gallery partners with local photographers to capture portraits that show the unique personalities of children who often wait the longest to be adopted. These photos are shown in public places and online to raise awareness.
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“All these children are local. They’re all from East Texas,” said Gillian Sheridan, Heart Gallery East Texas director. “But this particular group of children are often overlooked.”
These children are often older, part of sibling groups, or have extra medical or behavioral needs. Because of this, they have less than a 1% chance of being adopted.
“When there’s true collaboration with the community, and these images and stories are shared… their chances of adoption can significantly increase from 1% to 60%,” Sheridan said. “So when we work together, we can make a difference.”
The Goodgions’ own adoption journey began in March 2019 when they met with the Fostering Collective. They completed licensing with Christian Homes and Family Services, and on the day they were approved, they received a call about a newborn girl — just one day old. They named her Lilly.
“She was precious, and we completely fell in love with her,” Catherine said.
Lilly brought joy to their home for 18 months before she was reunified with her biological family. The Goodgions struggled with the decision, especially since nothing had improved in Lilly’s original situation.
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“It was not a good situation when she left, and nothing really changed,” Catherine said. “We were devastated and learned the foster system is not perfect. But we cherished every moment we had with her.”
Shortly after Lilly left, the Goodgions met Mary Blake, a child already known to Catherine’s friends. It soon became clear she needed a permanent home.
“We already knew her,” Catherine said. “God’s hand was all over her life. The transition to our home was a blessing.”
Mary Blake lived with the Goodgions for a year before they officially adopted her. Soon after, another foster child stayed with them for three months before reuniting with extended family.
“Reunification is a beautiful experience,” Catherine said.
Then came Palmer — a tiny baby boy, born five weeks early. “He’s tiny but mighty,” Catherine said. “We know God has big plans for him.” A few months later, they learned Palmer’s biological mother was pregnant again. When plans with other relatives fell through, Palmer’s full brother, Jake, joined the family 11 months later.
“They look like twins,” Catherine said. “Jake is nonstop fun and laughter. They’ve been such a blessing.”
Today, Mary Blake is a fiery, feisty 4-year-old with a tender heart and a strong spirit. “She’s very sweet, but tough too,” Catherine said. “Mary Blake is the boss. She keeps everybody in line, and she’s definitely gonna be an attorney.”
Palmer, 3, is a “wiggly worm” full of energy. Though tiny for his age and working through speech and physical delays, he’s making steady progress with therapy. “We joke that Palmer is going to be an engineer,” Catherine said, “because every toy he gets, he immediately flips upside down or wants to see how it’s put together.”
Jake, the youngest at 2, is the family’s “class clown,” always happy and wanting to be part of the group. “I can’t imagine not having our Caboose now,” Catherine said.
Watching them grow, Catherine says every stage has its joys and challenges. “It’s just so much fun to see their little personalities come out and really see who we think they’re going to be.”
Though their home is full of love and life, the Goodgions say their family is complete. “We are definitely done,” Catherine said.
The Goodgions have stepped back from fostering but remain deeply connected to the community. “Fostering was part of our faith journey,” Catherine said. “We believe it’s a mission field right here in our own backyard.” She now works as an adoption attorney, helping other families finalize their forever.
Heart Gallery East Texas had a rocky start in the region, coming and going over the years. But now it has strong support from the state.
“Now the state is behind the program,” Sheridan said. “There’s now 11 Heart Galleries in the state of Texas. It’s the first state in the country that has taken this initiative to really help these kiddos who are overlooked in care.”
The program has staff, funding, and a website to support children and families. Since returning, Heart Gallery East Texas has featured about 130 children, and 40 have found permanent homes.
While many in East Texas don’t realize how many children need help, the numbers are clear.
“Right now in East Texas, we have about 1,300 children in foster care,” Sheridan said. “We do not have enough foster families in our community.”
Because of this shortage, about half of these children are placed outside the area — far from their schools, friends, churches, and everything familiar.
“That further traumatizes the child, because they’re taken away from anything that’s familiar — their school, their friends, their church, just their community,” Sheridan said.
She called on more local, Christ-centered families to open their homes to children in need.
Through programs like Heart Gallery and stories like the Goodgions’, East Texas communities are working to give foster children the chance to find love, belonging and forever families close to home.
For information about Heart Gallery East Texas, visit heartgalleryetx.org.
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