Department of Children and Families and Statewide Guardian Ad Litem Program v. J.S., the Father and S.I., the Mother

183 So. 3d 1177, 2016 Fla. App. LEXIS 436
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedJanuary 13, 2016
Docket4D15-2272
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 183 So. 3d 1177 (Department of Children and Families and Statewide Guardian Ad Litem Program v. J.S., the Father and S.I., the Mother) 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
Department of Children and Families and Statewide Guardian Ad Litem Program v. J.S., the Father and S.I., the Mother, 183 So. 3d 1177, 2016 Fla. App. LEXIS 436 (Fla. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

GERBER, J.

The Department-of Children and Families and the Statewide Guardian Ad Litem Program appeal from the -circuit court’s final judgment denying the Department’s petition for termination of both parents’ parental rights. Regarding the father, the appellants argue the court erred in two respects: (1) finding that the father’s incarceration period does not constitute a significant portion of the child’s minority pursuant to section 39.806(l)(d)l., Florida Statutes (2015); and (2) finding that the father’s continued parental relationship with the child would not be contrary to the child’s best interests pursuant to section 39.806(l)(d)3., Florida Statutes (2015). Regarding the mother, the appellants argue the court erred in denying the termi *1179 nation of her parental rights based on its denial of the termination of the father’s parental rights.

We agree with the appellants on the two arguments regarding the termination of the father’s parental rights, and thus we reverse the denial of that termination. In light of that disposition, we also reverse the denial of the termination of the mother’s parental rights.

Our opinion begins by summarizing the case’s procedural history. We then present our reasoning as to why the father’s parental rights should be terminated pursuant to sections 39.806(l)(d)l.- and 39.806(l)(d)3.

Procedural History

The child was born in March 2009. The father did not have custody of the child for the next two years. In March 2011, when the child was two years old, the child was sheltered from the mother. The child was placed in the father’s temporary custody. One month later, in April 2011, both parents consented to a dependency order.

In July 2011, the father violated the dependency order by taking the child to North Carolina without notice to the Department or the court. The court removed the child from the father’s custody and placed the child with his maternal' grandmother and half-sister in Broward County. The father remained in North Carolina.

Just over one year later, in August 2012, the father was arrested in North Carolina on four felony charges: robbery with a dangerous weapon, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill and inflict serious injury, and two counts of kidnapping. The charges arose from an incident where the father robbed two victims at gunpoint, shot one of the victims, and stole their car. The father was convicted on those charges and sentenced to prison in North Carolina with an anticipated release in August 2019. By that time, the child will be ten years old.

The father also has a criminal history in Florida. In 1989, he was sentenced to fifteen -years in prison for attempted first degree murder, armed burglary of a dwelling, and shooting into an occupied dwelling.

The Department filed its termination of parental rights petition, seeking to terminate both the mother’s and the father’s parental rights. The mother failed to appear at the advisory hearing, resulting in a consent by default on the ground of abandonment. The Department pursued its petition against the father.

At the adjudicatory hearing, the father appeared by telephone. During the Department’s case-in-chief, the court heard testimony from the child’s maternal grandmother, the Department’s case manager, and the guardian ad litem.

The grandmother testified that the child is thriving with his half-sister in the grandmother’s home. -The grandmother adopted the child’s half-sister, and she wants to «adopt the child as well. According to the grandmother, the father’s only contact with the child has been one letter sent via the case manager six months before the adjudicatory hearing. The father has not sent the child any cards, gifts, food or clothing. The child receives only the father’s $183 monthly Social Security benefits.

The dependency case, manager testified that she visits the child about every .three weeks. The child is very affectionate towards his, grandmother. They have formed a loving, parent-child relationship. According to the case manager: “[The child] often just runs up to her and hugs her and sits on her lap-and tells her he loves her. He: calls her mom. They play together. They seem to be very close.” *1180 The child never has asked about the father in the case manager’s presence.

The case manager was required to contact the parents, if possible, on a monthly-basis. She last spoke with the father six months before the adjudicatory hearing. During that conversation, the father indicated that, upon his release from prison, he planned to stay in North Carolina.

After that conversation, the case manager attempted to call the father three or four times, but did not get through. The case manager testified: “He was moved to a different facility and they’ve made it known to me that they won’t allow him to speak to me.” She had not tried to communicate with him in writing.

The case manager could not remember if she talked to the father about the full case plan, but she remembered talking to him about a parenting class which he completed. The father’s other tasks were to: maintain monthly contact with the case manager; provide the case manager with any change of address or phone number; and provide financial support for the child. According to the case manager, the father never provided any change of address or phone number, and never provided financial support. The case manager opined that the father had not substantially complied with his case plan.

The case manager recommended that the court terminate both parents’ rights as to the child. The case manager conceded that, to her knowledge, the only incident where the father directly harmed the child occurred when the father left the state with the child without notifying the Department or the court. However, according to the case manager, based on her training and risk assessment regarding child safety, and her knowledge of this case, she did not believe the child would be safe if the court returned the child to the father’s care.

After the case manager testified, the father, who was appearing telephonically from prison and had not offered any testimony, stated he had “nothing else to say” and ended the call.

The hearing then resumed with the guardian ad litem’s testimony. The guardian ad litem testified she visited the child monthly for four years. She described the child’s relationship with the grandmother as “a very comfortable, loving relationship,” and as a “parental” and “bonded interaction.” The child also has a very close relationship with his half-sister. The child never has asked for his father or mother. The guardian opined that it would be detrimental to the child to remove him from the grandmother’s care.

Both the Department and the guardian argued that, after four years of dependency, the child was entitled to permanency, and that it would be in the child’s best interests to terminate both parents’ rights and allow the child to be adopted by his grandmother and remain with his half-sister. The Department noted that during the four-month period when the father had custody, he acted with wanton disregard for the child’s safety and welfare when he violated a court order by absconding with the child to another state without disclosing the child’s whereabouts.

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Related

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210 So. 3d 147 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2016)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
183 So. 3d 1177, 2016 Fla. App. LEXIS 436, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/department-of-children-and-families-and-statewide-guardian-ad-litem-program-fladistctapp-2016.