C.S. v. S.H.

671 So. 2d 260, 1996 Fla. App. LEXIS 3845
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedApril 10, 1996
DocketNo. 95-4099
StatusPublished
Cited by39 cases

This text of 671 So. 2d 260 (C.S. v. S.H.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
C.S. v. S.H., 671 So. 2d 260, 1996 Fla. App. LEXIS 3845 (Fla. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinion

PARIENTE, Judge.

C.S. and J.S., biological relatives (the biological relatives) of S.D.V-H., a minor, appeal from a final judgment of adoption in favor of S.H. and K.H., foster parents (the foster parents) of S.D.V-H. We reverse the final judgment of adoption because the trial court had no authority to interfere with HRS’s decision to select the biological relatives as prospective adoptive parents of S.D.V-H., a child committed to the custody of HRS, where HRS’s selection was appropriate, consonant with its policies and made in an expeditious manner.

We first review the background facts and complicated procedural history of this case. S.D.V-H., a baby girl, was born on August 13, 1992. At the time of her birth, she was premature, afflicted with bacterial venereal disease, addicted to crack cocaine and had four hernias. HRS filed a dependency action after S.D.V-H.’s birth. On September 22, 1992, HRS placed S.D.V-H. in temporary foster care with the foster parents. To qualify as foster parents, S.H. and K.H. were required to execute an agreement with HRS entitled “Agreement to Provide Substitute Care for Dependent Children.” The agreement, as signed by the foster parents, provided:

As substitute care parent(s) for the Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, we agree to the following conditions considered essential for the welfare of this dependent child placed in our home:
1. This child is placed in our home on a temporary basis and is at all times under the supervision and control of [HRS]....
******
[263]*2633. We mil take no action to acquire legal custody or guardianship of the child.
* # * * * ⅜
7. We will cooperate in arrangements made by [HRS] for visits with the child by his parent(s) or other relative(s)
8. We will participate with [HRS] in planning for the child, which may include adoption placement, transfer to another foster home, or return to parent(s) or relative(s)
* # * * * ijs
13. [HRS] may remove the child from our home at any time but will, whenever possible, give us at least two weeks notice.

C.S., the child’s biological aunt who resided in upstate New York, first learned of S.D.VH.’s birth from her sister in December of 1992. She did not give immediate credence to this representation due to prior false statements by her sister. When, in April of 1993, the birth of S.D.V-H. was confirmed, C.S. and her husband, J.S., immediately began to take steps to qualify as adoptive parents.

On April 12,1993, HRS filed a Petition for Termination of Parental Rights seeking to terminate the natural mother’s parental rights. The father of S.D.V-H. was unknown. With the natural mother’s consent, her parental rights were terminated by an order entered on June 30, 1993.1 Pursuant to that order, S.D.V-H. was placed in the permanent custody of HRS for adoptive placement. See § 39.41, Fla.Stat. (1993).2

HRS immediately arranged for a home study of the biological relatives who resided in upstate New York. After a favorable home study, on November 8, 1993, HRS advised the foster parents of its decision to approve the biological relatives as adoptive parents.

In late November 1993 the biological relatives, with HRS’s approval, travelled from New York to Florida to visit with S.D.V-H. and return with her to New York. The foster parents refused to surrender S.D.V-H. to HRS or the biological relatives. The foster parents’ refusal was in clear violation of their agreement with HRS. Further, in December 1993, the foster parents filed a complaint for injunctive relief alleging that HRS should be equitably estopped from withholding its consent to the foster parents as adoptive parents. The foster parents alleged that HRS had promised them approval as adoptive parents.3 A temporary injunction was entered on December 6,1993, enjoining HRS from removing S.D.V-H. from the custody of the foster parents.

At about the same time as the foster parents’ claim for injunctive relief, both the biological relatives and the foster parents separately petitioned for adoption of S.D.V-H. HRS and the biological relatives moved to dismiss the foster parents’ adoption petition on the basis that they lacked standing to adopt because they did not have HRS’s consent; they had not been selected by HRS as adoptive parents; and no required home study had been performed by HRS. This motion was denied. The trial court, however, granted the foster parents’ motion to dismiss the biological relatives’ adoption petition on the ground that the biological relatives were not Florida residents, a statutory prerequisite. See § 63.185, Fla.Stat. The trial court, nonetheless, allowed the biological relatives to intervene in the injunction proceedings and adoption proceedings in light of the foster parents’ designation and formal approval by HRS as adoptive parents and in light of their pending adoption petition filed in New York.

On April 7, 1995, Judge Richard Oftedal entered a detailed twelve-page order denying [264]*264the foster parents’ request for a permanent injunction and request for equitable relief.4 Judge Oftedal found untenable S.H.’s position that HRS promised her that the foster parents would be the adoptive parents. The order contained the further findings that at no time did HRS “promise the [foster parents] that they would be either approved or recommended as adoptive parents.” Rather, Judge Oftedal found that HRS had cautioned S.H. that it was HRS’s policy at that time to accord relatives priority in adopting children in its custody.

Judge Oftedal specifically noted that the foster parents had received their foster care license from HRS despite concerns on the part of an HRS trainer that “their primary motivation was to adopt children in the foster care system rather than to provide temporary care for children” in HRS’s custody. Judge Oftedal concluded that it was not the representations of HRS that formed the basis of S.H.’s claim of estoppel:

The more likely explanation is that [S.H.], in her fervent and long-standing desire to adopt, chose to ignore [HRS]. As a result, repeated statements that relatives are accorded priority by DHRS in placement proceedings fell on deaf ears.

Prior to the commencement of the hearing in the Florida adoption proceeding, the biological relatives filed a renewed motion to dismiss the foster parents’ petition for adoption, asserting that the trial court’s order of April 7, 1995, which rejected the foster parents’ claim of equitable estoppel, was disposi-tive. ’ This motion to dismiss was also denied.5

A trial on the adoption petition was held in October 1995 before Judge Jack Cook, Judge Oftedal’s successor in the family division. Two psychologists testified in connection with S.D.V-H.’s bonding and potential for damage if removed from the foster parents’ home. Dr. Lori Wasserman testified on the foster parents’ behalf. Dr. Wasserman became involved with S.D.V-H. at the request of the foster parents’ attorney about the same time HRS approved the biological relatives as adoptive parents. She testified that to sever S.D.V-H.

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Bluebook (online)
671 So. 2d 260, 1996 Fla. App. LEXIS 3845, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cs-v-sh-fladistctapp-1996.