Author: Robert Latham
-
Florida Supreme Court lifts stay on SIJ cases, agrees to hear TPR case
The Florida Supreme Court last week lifted the stay on two private petition cases out of the Third DCA: KBLV and BYGM. The Florida Supreme Court recently heard oral argument in OICL, a case involving a child in the physical custody of an uncle who sought a dependency adjudication based on the uncle’s lack of…
-
The Children & Youth Law Clinic is accepting applications for student interns
If you know a law student at the University of Miami, let them know they can learn more and apply here!
-
Florida Supreme Court issues stay in immigrant juvenile cases
In case you’ve been under a child welfare rock, there has been a storm brewing for the past year regarding the handling of unaccompanied immigrant minors in Florida’s child welfare system. It started in Miami with two cases: BYGM and KBLV. The opinions are worth a read to get a feel for exactly what is going…
-
The good old days, part 2 (DCF abuse investigations over time)
Over the weekend, I posted some charts showing the number of kids under DCF supervision since 2004. Today we’re going to look at a slightly different measure: the number of abuse investigations between September 2006 and September 2015. Here goes. This shows the total number of investigations from September 2006 to September 2015. Buried in DCF’s spreadsheets is…
-
The good old days (or “Florida foster care rates since 2003”)
I’ve been running a lot of numbers this week for an article that I’m working on. I’ll post a few of the more interesting charts over the next few days. Beginning with these I created from DCF’s Child Welfare Services Trend Reports. The trend report contains the number of children in out-of-home and in-home care at the…
-
Florida DCF Adopts LGBTQ Group Home Protections on Transgender Day of Remembrance
Today is Transgender Day of Remembrance, a yearly memorial to transgender people who lost their lives to violence. Reports of homicides of transgender people have increased over the last years as families and friends of trans victims refuse to allow their identities to be erased. This year in Florida we remember with sadness India Clarke from Tampa, Vanessa Santillan from Miami,…
-
Case law update: TPR for medical neglect of child resulting in AIDS; adoption subsidy doesn’t offset child support
The Fifth DCA addresses the question of whether an adoption subsidy can be used to reduce child support obligations. Short answer: no. Tluzek v. Tluzek, — So.3d —- (Fla. 5th DCA 2015). The Fourth DCA affirms what appears to be an expedited termination of parental rights for medical neglect resulting in a child developing AIDS. C.S.…
-
Florida Supreme Court accepts two dependency cases for review
Last week, the Florida Supreme Court accepted two dependency cases for review. I’ll write more on both later, but here is a quick overview: The first is O.I.C.L. v. Florida Department of Children and Families. This case involves a circuit split in how immigrant children are adjudicated dependent. Briefing should be complete by December 7, and…
-
Extended Foster Care Rules Go Live Monday
After approximately 23 months of sometimes intense debate, DCF’s administrative rules on Extended Foster Care will go into effect on Monday, November 2, 2015. They can be found here or by searching at www.flrules.gov. The final rules focus heavily on a youth’s admission and discharge from the program, including clarifying eligibility requirements and appeal procedures. Many of the…