GUARDIAN AD LITEM PROGRAM v. DEPT. OF CHILDREN & FAMILIES

District Court of Appeal of Florida·Decided February 9, 2018·No. 17-1807·Published

Opinion

NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE REHEARING MOTION AND, IF FILED, DETERMINED

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF FLORIDA

SECOND DISTRICT

In the Interest of X.W., a child. ) ___________________________________)

)

GUARDIAN AD LITEM PROGRAM, )

)

Appellant, )

)

v. ) Case No. 2D17-1807 )

C.W. and DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN ) AND FAMILIES, )

)

Appellees. )

)

Opinion filed February 9, 2018.

Appeal from the Circuit Court for Lee County; Amy Hawthorne, Judge.

Sara Elizabeth Goldfarb, Sanford, for Appellant.

Toni A. Butler of Alderuccio & Butler, LLC, Naples, for Appellee C.W.

No appearance for remaining Appellee.

SALARIO, Judge.

The Guardian ad Litem Program (GAL) appeals from a final order denying its petition to terminate the parental rights of C.W., the father of X.W. X.W. was conceived as the result of a sexual battery by C.W. upon X.W.'s mother—a minor. The

trial court found that the sexual battery and C.W.'s lengthy incarceration for that offense established statutory grounds for termination, but it denied the petition on the basis that termination would not be in X.W.'s best interests and was not the least restrictive means of protecting him from harm. The best interests and least restrictive means findings are legally and factually infirm. We reverse.

I.

The GAL filed a petition for the termination of C.W.'s parental rights on October 14, 2016. The petition alleged five statutory grounds for termination: (1) C.W.'s involvement with X.W. was a threat to X.W.'s life, safety, and well-being under section 39.806(1)(c), Florida Statutes (2016); (2) C.W. was incarcerated and expected to remain so for a significant portion of X.W.'s minority under section 39.806(1)(d); (3) C.W. had engaged in egregious conduct that threatened the life, safety, or health of X.W. under section 39.806(1)(f); (4) C.W. had subjected the child or another child to a sexual battery under section 39.806(1)(g); and (5) X.W. had been conceived as the result of a sexual battery made unlawful by section 794.011, Florida Statutes, under section 39.806(1)(m). Each ground was based on C.W.'s sexual battery of X.W.'s mother. The GAL alleged that termination of C.W.'s parental rights was in X.W.'s best interests because of the gravity of the offense committed by C.W., the lack of any significant relationship between C.W. and X.W., and the strength of X.W.'s relationship with his maternal grandmother, who is available to adopt X.W.

The case proceeded to an adjudicatory hearing, see § 39.809, at which the evidence established the following. On the evening of September 22, 2013, S.B. ran away from home for one night. She was eleven years old at the time. While away, she met C.W. in a park. He was twenty-five. C.W. took S.B. to his apartment and had

sex with her. No one disputes that this was an unlawful sexual battery in violation of section 794.011. X.W. was conceived as a result and was born on May 29, 2014.

C.W. pleaded guilty to one count of lewd or lascivious battery and one count of impregnating a child under the age of sixteen.1 On December 15, 2014, he was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment and qualified as a sexual offender. His anticipated release date is in 2024, at which point X.W. will be ten years old. Upon release, C.W. will be subject to five years of sex offender probation, which includes significant restrictions on his ability to parent X.W. According to the probation orders in the record, he will be unable to have unsupervised contact with X.W. and will be allowed supervised contact only upon the recommendation of a qualified practitioner in a sexual offender treatment program who bases the recommendation on a risk assessment. He also will be unable to have any contact with S.B. unless the contact is approved by S.B., a qualified practitioner, and the sentencing court. And he will be unable to live within 1000 feet of a school, child care facility, park, playground, or other place where children regularly congregate.

X.W. was sheltered, adjudicated dependent as to both C.W. and S.B., and placed with his maternal grandmother—S.B.'s mother. By everyone's account, X.W.

1Lewd or lascivious battery under section 800.04(4)(a), Florida Statutes (2013), criminalizes "sexual activity" with a minor, the definition of which is identical to the definition of the term "sexual battery" under section 794.011(h), Florida Statutes (2013). See § 800.04(1)(a); see also Guardian Ad Litem Program v. M.H., 184 So. 3d 1253, 1256-57 (Fla. 4th DCA 2016) (holding that (1)(m) applies upon proof that a child "was conceived as a result of . . . conduct deemed unlawful pursuant to section 794.011(8)(a)" and that "[w]e do not construe the requirement that a trial court must accept a guilty plea or conviction as conclusive proof of a violation of section 794.011 as an element requiring a guilty plea or conviction for TPR under that ground"). Impregnation of a minor under sixteen by a person over twenty-one is a violation of section 827.04(3), Florida Statutes (2013), and is part of the child abuse statutes.

looks to his maternal grandmother as his mother figure. The two are closely bonded, and X.W. goes to his grandmother for love and affection. X.W.'s maternal grandmother handles all the day-to-day duties a parent would ordinarily handle for a child. She is willing to take care of X.W. as long as necessary and is also willing to adopt him. She wants to wait on adoption until S.B. turns eighteen, however, so that S.B. has a chance to make her own decision about whether she wants to be a parent to X.W.2 S.B. lives in the home with X.W. At the time of the hearing, she was fifteen years old and in ninth grade. S.B.'s relationship to X.W. is akin to a brother-sister relationship. S.B. is interested in things most fifteen-year-olds are interested in—things like going to school and being with friends. While there is love between S.B. and X.W., S.B. is not his caregiver. There was no evidence that S.B. is likely to be willing and able to be X.W.'s caregiver when she turns eighteen.

X.W.'s maternal grandmother testified that C.W. sent her a care package around the holidays and also wrote a letter to her in which he asked about X.W. She also testified that C.W.'s family, with her approval, had been taking X.W. to visit with C.W. in prison every two weeks until the termination proceedings were instituted.3 A representative of the GAL testified that there is not a current bond between C.W. and X.W. and that forming a bond after C.W. is released from prison would be very difficult

2The

trial court found that the maternal grandmother testified that she wanted to give "both the mother and father a chance to raise the child." That finding is not supported by competent substantial evidence because that is not how the grandmother testified. She testified as described in the text.

3It appears that the sentencing court in C.W.'s criminal case consented to these visits.

due to the conditions of C.W.'s probation. There was no evidence that C.W. is likely to be willing or able to be a parent to X.W. when released from prison.

The trial court denied the GAL's petition. As to the grounds for termination, the trial court found that the GAL had proven both that C.W. would be incarcerated for a significant portion of X.W.'s minority—establishing a ground for termination under section 39.806(1)(d)—and that X.W. was conceived as the result of a sexual battery on S.B. that was unlawful under section 794.011—establishing a ground for termination under section 39.806(1)(m). It found that the GAL failed to establish grounds for termination based on a continued threat to X.W. under section 39.806(1)(e) or sexual abuse or battery under section 39.806(1)(g), in both instances because the evidence was insufficient to show any continuing risk of harm to X.W. in the absence of a termination of C.W.'s parental rights. The trial court found that the GAL waived its allegations that termination was justified based on egregious conduct under section 39.806(1)(f).

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GUARDIAN AD LITEM PROGRAM v. DEPT. OF CHILDREN & FAMILIES, (Fla. Ct. App. 2018).

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