Grounds for Involuntary Termination of Parental Rights - Florida

Grounds for Termination of Parental Rights
Citation: Ann. Stat. § 39.806

Grounds for the termination of parental rights may be established under any of the following circumstances:

• The parent has abandoned the child.
• The parent's conduct toward the child or other children threatens the life, safety, well-being, or physical, mental, or emotional health of the child, irrespective of the provision of services.
• The parent is incarcerated, and one of the following applies:
  • The time for which the parent is expected to be incarcerated will constitute a substantial portion of the child's minority.
  • The incarcerated parent has been determined by the court to be a violent, career criminal; a habitual, violent, felony offender; or a sexual predator.
  • The court determines by clear and convincing evidence that continuing the parental relationship with the incarcerated parent would be harmful to the child. When determining harm, the court shall consider the following factors:
    • The age of the child
    • The relationship between the child and the parent
    • The nature of the parent's current and past provision for the child's developmental, cognitive, psychological, and physical needs
    • The parent's history of criminal behavior, including the frequency of incarceration and the unavailability of the parent to the child due to incarceration
    • Any other factor the court deems relevant
• A child has been adjudicated dependent, a case plan has been filed with the court, and either of the following applies:
  • The child continues to be abused, neglected, or abandoned by the parents.
  • The parent has materially breached the case plan by his or her action or inaction, making it unlikely that he or she will be able to substantially comply with the case plan before the time for compliance expires.
• The child has been in care for any 12 of the last 22 months, and the parents have not substantially complied with the case plan so as to permit reunification unless the failure to substantially comply with the case plan was due to the parent's lack of financial resources or to the failure of the Department of Children and Family Services to make reasonable efforts to reunify the parent and child.
• The parent has engaged in egregious conduct or knowingly failed to prevent egregious conduct that threatens the life, safety, or physical, mental, or emotional health of the child or the child's sibling.
• The parent has subjected the child to aggravated child abuse, sexual battery, sexual abuse, or chronic abuse.
• The parent or parents have committed murder or voluntary manslaughter of another child or a felony assault that results in serious bodily injury to the child or another child, or aided or abetted, attempted, conspired, or solicited to commit such a murder or voluntary manslaughter or felony assault.
• The parental rights of the parent to a sibling have been terminated involuntarily.
• The parent has a history of extensive, abusive, and chronic use of alcohol or a controlled substance that renders him or her incapable of caring for the child and has refused or failed to complete available treatment for such use during the 3-year period immediately preceding the filing of the petition for termination of parental rights.
• A test administered at birth that indicated that the child's blood, urine, or meconium contained any amount of alcohol or a controlled substance or metabolites of such substances, the presence of which was not the result of medical treatment administered to the mother or the newborn infant, and the mother of the child is the birth mother of at least one other child who was adjudicated dependent after a finding of harm to the child's health or welfare due to exposure to a controlled substance or alcohol, after which the mother had the opportunity to participate in substance abuse treatment.
• On three or more occasions, the child or another child of the parent has been placed in out-of-home care, and the conditions that led to the child's out-of-home placement were caused by the parent.
• The court determines by clear and convincing evidence that the child was conceived as a result of an act of sexual battery.
• The parent is convicted of an offense that requires the parent to register as a sexual predator under § 775.21.

Timeframes for Termination Proceedings
Citation: Ann. Stat. § 39.806

A petition may be filed when the parents have substantially failed to comply with a case plan for 12 months.

Exceptions 
Citation: Ann. Stat. § 39.806

A petition may be filed when the parents have substantially failed to comply with a case plan for 12 months unless the failure to comply was due to either of the following:

• A lack of financial resources of the parent
• A failure of the department to make reasonable efforts to reunify the parent and child 

When Parental Rights May Be Reinstated
Citation: Ann. Stat. § 39.8155

After parental rights have been terminated, the department, the parent whose rights were terminated, or the child may file a motion to reinstate the parent's parental rights. The court may consider a motion to reinstate parental rights if the following criteria are met:

• The grounds for termination of parental rights were based on § 39.806(1)(a) or (e)1.-3.
• The parent is not the verified perpetrator of sexual or physical abuse of the child.
• The parent has not been a perpetrator involved in any verified reports of abuse, neglect, or abandonment since his or her parental rights for the child were terminated.
• The parent has not had his or her parental rights terminated for any other child, under any grounds, in this State or any other jurisdiction, since his or her parental rights for the child were terminated.
• The child is at least age 13.
• The child has not achieved permanency and is not in a preadoptive placement, and at least 36 months have passed since the termination of parental rights.

If a motion to reinstate parental rights is filed, the court shall consider all relevant evidence, including whether the following are true:

• The child possesses sufficient maturity to express a preference regarding the reinstatement of parental rights.
• The child is not in a preadoptive home or under permanent guardianship.
• The parent has a documented change in behavior such that, given the current age and maturity of the child, the circumstances that brought the child into care are remedied.
• The parent demonstrates sufficient protective capacities, given the child's age, physical and behavioral health, and any other specific characteristics and needs, such that the risk of the child reentering care is low.
• Both the parent and child wish to reinstate parental rights.
• The child's guardian ad litem recommends the reinstatement of parental rights.
• A multidisciplinary team was convened and recommends the reinstatement of parental rights and has developed a plan to transition the child to the former parent's care pursuant to § 39.4023.

Upon finding that the criteria are established by clear and convincing evidence, the court shall order the department to conduct supervised visitation and trial home visits between the child and former parent for at least 3 consecutive months after the completion of a home study. In issuing the order, the court shall consider the transition plan developed by the child's multidisciplinary team. The department shall report to the court at least once every 30 days regarding the former parent's interactions with the child and recommend whether the court should reinstate the former parent's parental rights. The department shall immediately cease the visitation with the former parent if there is an allegation of abuse, neglect, or abandonment of the child by the parent; if the department determines that the child's safety or well-being is threatened; or if such visitation is not in the child's best interests. The department shall immediately notify the court if it ceases visitation between the child and the former parent.

The court may reinstate parental rights upon a finding of clear and convincing evidence that it is in the best interests of the child. Upon ordering reinstatement of parental rights, the court shall place the child in the custody of the former parent with an in-home safety plan. The court shall retain jurisdiction for at least 6 months, during which the department shall supervise the placement and report to the court on the stability of the placement. The court shall determine whether its jurisdiction should be continued or terminated 6 months after reinstating parental rights based on a report from the department or the child's guardian ad litem and any other relevant factors.