CopyCited 18 times | Published | Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal | 2002 WL 1396027
...If the Department again petitions to terminate J.T.'s parental rights, the court should carefully consider the possibility of relative placement as the least restrictive means of protecting T.B. from harm. Reversed and remanded. BLUE, C.J., and WHATLEY, J., Concur. NOTES [1] See § 39.503(5),(6), Fla....
CopyCited 17 times | Published | Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal | 2008 Fla. App. LEXIS 11220, 2008 WL 2811999
...If a child has been legally adopted, the term "parent" means the adoptive mother or father of the child. The term does not include an individual whose parental relationship to the child has been legally terminated, or an alleged or prospective parent, unless the parental status falls within the terms of s.
39.503(1) or
63.062(1)....
...Therefore, we grant the petition for writ of certiorari and quash the circuit court's order. NORTHCUTT, C.J., and KELLY, J., concur. NOTES [1] The child's mother's parental rights have not been terminated, and there is no pending motion to terminate her parental rights. [2] Neither section
39.503(1), relating to identifying and locating an unknown parent, nor section
63.062(1), Florida Statutes (2006), relating to persons whose consent is required for adoption, is applicable to the circumstances of this case.
CopyCited 13 times | Published | Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal | 2002 WL 1393880
...e Department may proceed accordingly. If the Department offers J.P.C. a case plan and he fails to comply, the Department may again petition to terminate his parental rights. Reversed and remanded. BLUE, C.J., and WHATLEY, J., Concur. NOTES [1] Under section 39.503, Florida Statutes (2000), the Department is required to perform a diligent search for a prospective parent. See § 39.503(5), (6)....
CopyCited 6 times | Published | Florida 3rd District Court of Appeal | 2011 WL 1485994
...cient, essentially waiving such objections, based on an admirable decision not to interfere with an adjudication which would benefit an unfortunate child without expense to the Department. Nor are the affidavits of diligent search insufficient under section 39.503, Florida Statutes (2010), as determined by my colleagues....
...to the person whose location is unknown" if that is in the best interest of the child. My colleagues have not referred to this portion of the statute, but have instead determined (without consideration of the "best interest" requirement expressed in section 39.503(5)) that T.J....
...parent must be notified of all proceedings involving a child: (1) Unless parental rights have been terminated, all parents must be notified *1196 of all proceedings or hearings involving a child. ... §
39.502(1), Fla. Stat. (2010) (emphasis added). Section
39.503 provides that where, as here, a parent's whereabouts are currently unknown, the court "shall direct the petitioner to conduct a diligent search for that person before scheduling a disposition hearing regarding the dependency of the child unless the court finds that the best interest of the child requires proceeding without notice." §
39.503(5), Fla. Stat. (2010). While by definition a diligent search is one conducted by the Department of Children and Family Services, a licensed child-caring agency, or a licensed child-placing agency [9] , under section
39.503(5), it appears that the court below could direct a non-department petitioner to conduct a search....
...ternational University's College of Law, Immigrant Children's Justice Clinic. Neither of these affidavits meets the minimum legal requirements set forth in Chapter 39 and are not, as the court below recognized, legally sufficient. More specifically, section 39.503(6) sets forth the minimum requirements necessary to constitute a diligent search....
...have information about the parent...., inquires of appropriate utility and postal providers, a thorough search of at least one electronic database specifically designed for locating persons, and inquires of appropriate law enforcement agencies. ... § 39.503(6), Fla....
...In this respect the affidavit is woefully inadequate. The affidavit also does not state which department program offices the petitioner contacted to inquire about T.J.'s father and it fails to state which, if any, utility providers it has contacted, all as required by section 39.503....
...no inquiry was made of the "federal agencies likely to have information [about the father]." See In re T.R.F.,
741 So.2d 1184, 1186 (Fla. 2d DCA 1999) ("We conclude that neither [of petitioner's] affidavit[s] complied with the requirements of section 39.4051(6) [now
39.503]....
...ies likely to have information about the father, utility and postal providers, or appropriate law enforcement agencies."). In short, the affidavits filed by the petitioner in this case failed as a matter of law to satisfy the minimum requirements of section 39.503....
...emanding this cause to the trial court for further proceedings. I join in that portion of Judge Wells' opinion which affirms the trial court's determination that the affidavits of diligent search did not satisfy the requirements of Florida Statutes, section 39.503....
CopyCited 3 times | Published | Florida 1st District Court of Appeal | 2006 WL 1373243
...so far as [they] are known." See §§
39.301(15) &
39.401(4), Fla. Stat. (emphasis added). If the identity of a parent is unknown when a dependency petition is filed, the court is required to make its own inquiry to discover the parent's identity. See §
39.503, Fla. Stat. If the identity of a parent is discovered, but his or her location is unknown, DCF is required to conduct a diligent search to determine the parent's whereabouts. See §
39.503(5), Fla....
CopyCited 1 times | Published | Florida 4th District Court of Appeal | 2015 Fla. App. LEXIS 4764
...63.062(1). If a child has been legally adopted, the term
“parent” means the adoptive mother or father of the child. The
term does not include . . . an alleged or prospective parent,
unless the parental status falls within the terms of s. 39.503(1)
or s....
...(2014) (emphasis added).
When reading the definition of “parent” in conjunction with that of
“abandonment,” we conclude that a prospective parent cannot abandon a
child under Chapter 39, unless the prospective parent’s status falls within
the terms of sections
39.503(1) or
63.062(1).4 See Heart of Adoptions, Inc.
v. J.A.,
963 So. 2d 189, 198 (Fla. 2007) (“As with any case of statutory
construction, we begin with the ‘actual language used in the statute.’”)
(quoting Borden v. East-European Ins. Co.,
921 So. 2d 587, 595 (Fla.
2006)).
4 Section
39.503, Florida Statutes (2014), illustrates the proper procedure a trial
court should follow when the identity or location of a parent is unknown and a
dependency petition has been filed....
...prospective parent, then DCF can
proceed with a petition for termination of parental rights without concern
that the TPR could be later undermined by the appearance of a prospective
parent seeking to establish his or her parental rights.
Neither section
39.503(1) nor section
63.062(1) is applicable to the
instant case, and there is no evidence that DCF ever utilized section
39.803 to locate A.S....
CopyPublished | Supreme Court of Florida | 33 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 754, 2008 Fla. LEXIS 1635, 2008 WL 4346502
...After considering the Committee's proposals and reviewing the relevant legislation, we amend the rule and forms as proposed by the Committee. The amendments to rule 8.225 and forms 8.962, 8.963, and 8.968 are in response to amendments to sections
39.502(17),
39.503(6),
39.504, Florida Statutes, made by chapter 2008-245, sections 9-11, Laws of Florida....
...disposition in dependency cases. Those forms also are modified to incorporate suggestions made by the Office of the State Courts Administrator that the Committee was considering prior to the statutory changes. Consistent with a requirement added to section 39.503(6), Florida Statutes, form 8.968 is amended to state that, when the Department of Children and Family Services made its diligent search to determine the residence of a parent or prospective parent, it conducted a thorough search of at least one electronic database specifically designed for location of persons....
CopyPublished | Florida 1st District Court of Appeal | 2006 Fla. App. LEXIS 8011
inquiry to discover the parent’s identity. See §
39.503, Fla. Stat. If the identity of a parent is discovered
CopyPublished | Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal | 2004 Fla. App. LEXIS 8019, 2004 WL 1252690
...to Florida, to submit to paternity testing before moving forward with the dependency action. E.K. was originally named as a putative father at the inception of these proceedings, when the circuit court conducted an inquiry of the mother pursuant to section 39.503(1) regarding the father’s identity. E.K. received notice of the proceedings under section 39.503(3)....
...In that instance, “the prospective parent shall not be recognized as a parent until proceedings under chapter 742 have been concluded. However, the prospective parent shall continue to receive notice of hearings as a participant pending results of the chapter 742 proceedings.” § 39.503(8)....
CopyPublished | Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal | 2002 Fla. App. LEXIS 9191
...plan, the Department may proceed accordingly. If the Department offers J.P.C. a case plan and he fails to comply, the Department may again petition to terminate his parental rights. Reversed and remanded. BLUE, C.J., and WHATLEY, J., Concur. . Under section 39.503, Florida Statutes (2000), the Department is required to perform a diligent search for a prospective parent. See § 39.503(5), (6)....
CopyPublished | Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal | 2002 Fla. App. LEXIS 9167
...If the Department again petitions to terminate J.T.’s parental rights, the court should carefully consider the possibility of relative placement as the least restrictive means of protecting T.B. from harm. Reversed and remanded. BLUE, C.J., and WHATLEY, J., Concur. . See § 39.503(5),(6), Fla....
CopyPublished | Florida 3rd District Court of Appeal | 2011 Fla. App. LEXIS 5568
...cient, essentially waiving such objections, based on an admirable decision not to interfere with an adjudication which would benefit an unfortunate child without expense to the Department. Nor are the affidavits of diligent search insufficient under section 39.503, Florida Statutes (2010), as determined by my colleagues....
...person whose location is unknown” if that is in the best interest of the child. My colleagues have not referred to this portion of the statute, but have instead determined (without consideration of the “best interest” requirement expressed in section 39.503(5)) that T.J....
