DEPENDENCY MEDIATION
Amendments to Chapter 39: Permanency Options and M
04/01/07

SB 1080/HB 7123 substantially amends Chapter 39 to conform Florida's statutes to the Adoptions and Safe Families Act. The bill not only contains language for technical compliance but is designed to expedite permanency for children. Some of the major changes include:

• All sections regarding permanency are rewritten. Permanency goals are redefined and prioritized as: reunification, adoption, permanent guardianship, placement with a fit and willing relative and another planned permanent living arrangement ("APPLA"). The statutes provide specific findings required by the court before each permanency option can be finalized. Section 39.5085 is amended to ensure that children placed in permanent guardianships with relatives can receive relative caregiver funds. The revisions provide for regular judicial reviews of children placed with fit and willing relatives and in APPLAs to continually evaluate the possibility of adoption or permanent guardianship of the child.

• DCF is required to adopt rules no later than July 1, 2007 to ensure the Indian Child Welfare Act and Multi-Ethnic Placement Act are enforced in Florida.

• The case plan section was reorganized and new sections developed. Concurrent planning is defined and use of this concept is authorized throughout the chapter. Statutory authority for extending case plans is eliminated. New procedures for amendment of case plans are added, including burdens of proof. Provisions are added to ensure current health, mental health and education information for the child is available in both the case planning and judicial review processes.

• Language added to section 39.522 provides that when evaluating a request for post-disposition change of custody, the court shall consider the child's continuity in the same out-of-home placement as a factor in determining best interests.

• Section 39.8055 is created to specify when DCF is required to file a termination of parental rights and the federally recognized exceptions to that rule. The court's ability to order a TPR and other parties' rights to challenge DCF's decision that compelling reasons exist not to file TPR are clarified.

• Material breach of a case plan is established as a ground for TPR and explained in section 39.806.

• Amendments to section 39.810 provide the availability of a nonadoptive placement with a relative may not receive greater consideration than any other factor weighing on the manifest best interest of the child and may not be considered as a factor weighing against TPR. If a child has been in a stable or preadoptive placement for 6 months, the availability of a different placement, including a placement with a relative, may not be considered as a ground to deny TPR. Ch. 2006-97

HB 175/SB 114, the "Robert J. Koch Drug Court Intervention Act" incorporates principles of treatment-based drug court programs into dependency proceedings.

• Goals are established for substance abuse services in dependency court. Intent language is added to encourage use of the drug court program model in section 397.334 to assess and address substance abuse issues.

• Section 39.407(16) is created to provide that after a shelter or dependency petition is filed the court can order a person with custody or a person requesting custody of a child to submit to a substance abuse assessment or evaluation.

• Sections 39.507 and 39.521 are amended to provide that after adjudication of dependency, withholding of adjudication, or disposition, the court can order a person with custody or a person requesting custody of a child to submit to a substance abuse assessment or evaluation. The court can require the person to participate in treatment, including a treatment-based drug court. The court will oversee the person's progress and compliance and may impose appropriate sanctions for non-compliance. Orders under these subsections may be made only upon good cause shown.

Ch. 2006-194 HB 7173/SB 1798 creates an Office of Child Abuse Prevention in Chapter 39 to establish a comprehensive statewide approach for the prevention of child abuse, abandonment and neglect. The bill also includes numerous amendments impacting older children in dependency proceedings, some of which are:

• Creation of section 743.045 authorizing removal of the disability of nonage for purposes of executing contracts for residential leases. Section 39.701 is revised to require entry of such an order at the judicial review that takes place 90 days after the child's 17th birthday.

• Eligibility for Independent living transition services is expanded to include children placed with a court-approved nonrelative or guardian after reaching 16 and who spent at least 6 months in foster care.

• New requirements are included in Chapter 409 for DCF to fully explain any document, report, form or other record presented to the child prior to the child's signature.

• The Road to Independence Scholarship is renamed the “Road to Independence Program”. Eligibility is expanded to include children who are "currently in licensed foster care or subsidized independent living . . . adopted from foster care after reaching 16 years of age, or after spending at least 6 months in the custody of the department after reaching 6 months of age, . . . placed in a guardianship by the court." New language authorizes payment of awards under the RTI Program by direct deposit, unless the recipient makes a different request.

• Amendments provide that children eligible for transitional support services or aftercare services who wish to continue to reside with the licensed foster family or group care provider with whom they were placed at their 18th birthday, may continue to reside there or may reside with another such provider arranged by DCF.

• Section 409.903 is amended to expand Medicaid coverage to include children formerly in foster care until their 20th birthdays. Ch. 2006-227

HB 1503/SB 2012 provides technical changes necessary due to the creation of the Agency for Persons with Disabilities ("APD"), but also includes provisions clarifying a dependency court’s jurisdiction with regard to services provided by APD. Specifically, section 39.407(5) is amended to provide "nothing in this section confers jurisdiction on the court with regard to determining eligibility or ordering services under Chapter 393." The bill also gives priority status to dependent children on APD’s waiting list by creating new 393.065(5).

Ch. 2006-306 HB 1325/SB 2356 amends section 39.301 to require DCF to petition for dependency for children of parents involved in certain controlled substance crimes.