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 on here.

In August 2015, I posted two oral arguments, without comment because I — along with many others — am working on those cases. The decisions for those two cases came down on December 30, and both were against the children. Those opinions are here: EPN and BRCM. A third opinion I wasn’t expecting also came down: SFAC. Thoughtful dissents by Judge Salter show how these rulings have exploded into dismissals of cases around the state.

In the meantime, another bad case out of West Palm has been accepted for review by the Florida Supreme Court: OICL. It is set for oral argument on February 2, 2016.

Today, we received word that BYGM and KBLV have been stayed by the Florida Supreme Court pending the outcome of OICL.  If you have a private petition dependency case pending in any tribunal and it’s under threat from OICL/BYGM/KLBV, I suggest asking for a stay or abeyance until the Florida Supreme Court can have its say.

I’m providing the BYGM order here for use in your motions.

bygm stay.png

 


Comments

One response to “Florida Supreme Court issues stay in immigrant juvenile cases”

  1. gacoalition4childprotectionreform1 Avatar
    gacoalition4childprotectionreform1

    The foster care system has gotten ridiculously out of control and no one is taking the reigns in pulling them where it needs to go… No one government taking responsibilities of the children that are in dire need of removal! Every day a child dies in foster care, in which to say that that child probably would have been better off left in the biological parents care! Cases in the news all the time! What is it going to take for people to step up and get this thing together and going in the right direction that it is suppose to go BY THE LAW!! all in the name of the almighty dollar! Thank you for sharing your work and your posts! Very informative!
    Paige Roberts, Family Rights Advocate

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