Author: Robert Latham
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New York: Child in child support proceeding not eligible for SIJ findings
The New York Appellate Division has ruled that a child subject to child support proceedings is not sufficiently “dependent on a juvenile court” to allow a special immigrant juvenile best interest order to issue. The court reasons that child support proceedings are actually monetary suits between the parents, and create no jurisdiction over the child’s…
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Third DCA: Parents are not parties to each other’s TPR cases
The Third DCA issued the following very short opinion: The Appellant, A.D., as the father of Ke.Q., seeks to reverse the trial court’s final judgment terminating the parental rights of Ke.Q.’s mother. The Appellant argues that he was denied due process when the trial court refused to appoint counsel for him at the Mother’s termination…
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Fourth DCA: Case plan tasks preventing contact between parents are legit
In a small number of cases, one parent’s compliance with their case plan will be contingent upon their ending contact with the other parent. Over a Free Association challenge, the Fourth DCA says this is not an unconstitutional infringement of association: As to the father’s claim that his constitutional right to free association with the…
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First DCA: foster parents cannot use corporal punishment under cover of religious belief
If your religious beliefs do not allow you to abide by the contractual terms of being a foster parent, then you should not be a foster parent, says the First DCA: We reject Appellants’ contention that section 409.175(1)(b) deprives the Department of legal authority to prohibit corporal punishment, specifically the striking of the child’s body in an…
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To Motion or Not to Motion – Second DCA still requires motion for dismissal below
The Second DCA is still requiring parents to make a motion for dismissal at trial in order to preserve arguments for appeal. O.T. v. DCF, — So.3d —- (Fla. 2nd DCA) (July 24, 2013). And for some reason defense attorneys in the Second DCA are still not doing that. The Second at least certifies conflict:…
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Permanent Guardianship Reversal #5
This is the fifth permanent guardianship reversal this year (see numbers 1, 2, 3 & 4). This time due to lack of specific findings regarding the parent’s compliance with the case plan. To the trial court’s credit, the visitation schedule was sufficiently specific. In re R.C., — So.3d —- (Fla. 2nd DCA) (August 2, 2013).
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Independent Living Final Orders for April – June 2013
Through an agreement with the good people at Florida Administrative Law Reports, I’m happy to be able to share with you the Independent Living fair hearing final orders that would not have otherwise made it into the published FALR. In this batch I received ten final orders ranging in dates from April 12, 2013 to…
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S.L. v. DCF: How to beat an abandonment case
In 2012, the Florida Legislature decided that parents were not being TPR’d enough for abandoning their children, and so they tweaked the definition of abandonment to make it easier to bring a case. Instead of abandonment being defined as failing to maintain a relationship with your child and failing to support your child, it was weakened to…