Author: Robert Latham
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Third DCA Sends Ineffective Assistance Case Back to Trial Court
The case is T.H. v. DCF. From the opinion, it appears that one Al Guffanti, Esq., appellate attorney for the father, raised ineffective assistance of counsel in the direct appeal. It’s not clear from the opinion what the grounds for that were. There must have been something there, though, because instead of ignoring it outright,…
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Crispell v. DCF: CHS Not Entitled to 11th Amendment Immunity
I haven’t discussed the Crispell litigation here before, so first a quick overview. Since the litigation is still in the pleadings stages, the following are all allegations from the public pleadings. The Crispells, adoptive parents and former foster parents, are suing DCF, CHS, and various other state actors for placing their now-adoptive child, TMC, in…
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Case law review: Non-offending parents and EPSDT
Non-offending parents can still be ordered to do tasks. F.O. v. DCF, — So.3d —-, 2012 WL 3535841 (Fla. 5th DCA 2012). Hearing officers have to consider the EPSDT standard when determining coverage for minors. E.B. v. AHCA, — So.3d —-, 2012 WL 3329207 (Fla. 4th DCA 2012).
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Thoughts on FINR: Let’s Bring Them Home
By this time the allegations of abuse at the Florida Institute of Neurologic Rehabilitation should be well known to anyone reading this blog. If not, read here and here. Bloomberg somehow got the scoop on the locals and reported years of criminal, civil, and regulatory investigations of the place, including deaths, two pending criminal charges,…
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Can a child’s attorney be forced to disclose privileged information?
That’s the question pending in the Third DCA. According to buzz around the courthouse (which I’ve had to sit in for a while these past 48 hours), a certain youth in a certain courtroom had gone “on run”, a term I despise for what it implies and what it omits. The only person who the…
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“I’m not telling you to make the world better”
“I’m not telling you to make the world better, because I don’t think that progress is necessarily part of the package. I’m just telling you to live in it. Not just to endure it, not just to suffer it, not just to pass through it, but to live in it. To look at it. To…
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Fixing shelter representation
One of my three readers wrote separately to note that the 72-hour hearing is not the only possible solution to the shelter representation requirement. The reader reports that Broward defense attorneys take turns doing shelter duty. All shelters are handled by one judge for the week, and attorneys rotate being present for them. That’s an…
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Good Cause has a Shelf Life When Ordering Psych Evals
From J.B. v. M.M., — So.3d —-, 2012 WL 2913287 (Fla. 4th DCA 2012): While we acknowledge that “past conduct” may be taken into consideration when determining whether a parent has been able to meet the needs of the child, the information relied upon regarding the mother’s alleged inability to parent her daughter is over eight years old.…
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Parents still get counsel at shelter hearings
The case is G.W. v. Department of Children & Families, — So.3d —-, 2012 WL 2947772 (Fla. 3rd DCA 2012). The father appears at his shelter hearing; he’s appointed counsel, an attorney who is understandably not present at the time; and his child is sheltered then and there. He’s sent off. This happens every day at just…