Category: Case Law Updates
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An easy guide to new things you can and cannot do in 2015
The future can be a confusing place. I’ll try to make it a little easier to navigate. Things you CAN do Have an evidentiary hearing on whether your administrative action notice actually arrived to you. Get married in Florida irrespective of your gender. Things you CANNOT do Represent yourself in a dependency matter unless you waive counsel knowingly…
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Federal suit against Hillsborough child welfare employees allowed to go forward
A federal judge ruled this month that a lawsuit involving the 2012 death of Marie Freyre can go forward, denying various child welfare employees’ motions to dismiss. Judge James Whittemore (Tampa) ruled on December 5 that the mother stated valid claims that the child welfare employees violated her rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation…
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Florida Supreme Court accepts ineffective assistance of counsel case
This is huge. The Florida Supreme Court has granted review in the case of a mother who lost her parental rights at a trial which began with her defense attorney informing the court that he was not prepared to go forward. Oral argument will be February 3, 2015. Briefs are due November 20 and 25. No continuances. The…
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Defense attorney starts opening argument with “I’m tired and not prepared to do this trial,” courts still uphold TPR
Let’s say you’re a parent facing termination of your parental rights in Florida. The following cumulative acts by your attorney would not be considered ineffective assistance of counsel: filing an untimely motion for a continuance to investigate prospective fathers; [actually the sin here was probably assuming that a judge would grant an unopposed motion for…
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Did DCF really try to TPR a woman for seeking custody of her child?
The First DCA reversed a TPR out of Duval County this week. The posture of the case is important: In May 2011, DCF took the then two-year-old child into protective custody and placed him in foster care. In July 2011, the trial court adjudicated the child dependent. In April 2012, the trial court created a…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…