robertlathamesq.org

Author: Robert Latham

  • “As soon as I finish the program, they’re going to give me my kids back. I need to get back to them. I’m all they’ve got.”

    Humans of New York.

  • ICYMI: John Oliver on the American prison system — racist, stupid, and nothing but a business

    This segment was serendipitous timing for the two incarceration opinions that I wrote about earlier this week. Watch it and then argue that a TPR ground based on length of incarceration should exist at all.  I lost my legal innocence in law school on the day I learned that there is a private prison industry, that it has…

  • Incarcerated parents and the child welfare system

    The Second and the Fifth courts of appeal recently issued opinions involving incarcerated parents. In the Fifth’s case, a child was adjudicated dependent and the disposition order forbade any contact between the incarcerated father and the child. In the Second’s case, a mother petitioned to terminate the rights of an incarcerated father. In both cases, the courts…

  • This TPR should be reversed, but it probably won’t be

    It’s Friday and there’s not much to say on this one. Mr. Joyce (for the mother) is right that the Three or More Removals TPR ground in Section 39.806(1)(l) is almost blatantly unconstitutional without some saving nexus construction, but the argument wasn’t preserved below in this case and it sounds like there were other grounds available…

  • Third DCA to DCF: Not every injury requires state intervention

    This post continues a look at legal doctrines, as opposed to pure administrative incompetence, that limit the State’s ability to intervene in families’ lives due to suspected abuse, abandonment or neglect. Thus far, since the publication of Innocent’s Lost by the Miami Herald, we have seen the Second DCA (Lakeland) refuse application of the Imminent Risk…

  • Now Hiring: Attorneys for Children

    Florida’s dependent children finally have attorneys, or at least some of them do. Governor Scott today signed into law House Bill 561, which creates section 39.0135, entitled Appointment of an attorney for a dependent child with certain special needs, for: children who reside in or are being considered for placement in a skilled nursing home, children who have…

  • Michigan Supreme Court Rules One-Parent Doctrine Unconstitutional

    Take note Florida: The Michigan Supreme Court ruled that removing a child from an uncharged parent is unconstitutional. We accordingly hold that due process requires a specific adjudication of a parent’s unfitness before the state can infringe the constitutionally protected parent-child relationship. In doing so, we announce no new constitutional right. Rather, we affirm that an…

  • ILSAC Meeting on Tuesday

    ILSAC is meeting on Tuesday, June 3, in a webcast event. What a wonderful opportunity to express exactly how EFC has been going thus far. Independent Living Services Advisory Council Meeting Event Type: Public Meeting Date/Time: Tuesday, June 3, 2014 – 13:00 to 16:00 Location: webcast event 1317 Winewood Blvd. Tallahssee  Florida  32399 United States   The purpose of the meeting…

  • Florida Fifth DCA Approves Second-Parent Adoptions

    In a long-awaited opinion, the Fifth District Court of Appeal (Daytona) last week held that second-parent adoptions, the adoption of a child by a gay parent’s partner, is within the jurisdiction of the courts and cannot later be challenged by the parents. The case–In re Adoption of D.P.P.–involves an unmarried lesbian couple who conceived with an…

  • Florida Bar News: Foundation supports Miami Law’s advocacy for foster youth

    We could not be prouder of both of the clients in this article. Thank you to the Florida Bar Foundation and everyone who made success (defined in very different ways) possible for them.