Florida Dept. of Health and Rehabilitative Services v. Doe, 94-503
| Decision Date | 22 August 1994 |
| Docket Number | No. 94-503,94-503 |
| Citation | 643 So.2d 1100 |
| Parties | 19 Fla. L. Weekly D1807 FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND REHABILITATIVE SERVICES, Appellant, v. John DOE and Jane Doe, Appellees. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
R. John Westberry, Deputy Dist. Legal Counsel, Dept. of HRS, Dist. One, Pensacola, for appellant.
Robert A. Emmanuel of Emmanuel, Sheppard & Condon, Pensacola, for appellees.
The Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services (hereafter, "HRS") petitions for writ of common law certiorari to review the trial court's order requiring HRS to consider the respondents (hereafter, "the Does") as prospective adoptive parents. Because we find that the trial court exceeded its jurisdiction and otherwise deviated from the essential requirements of law, we grant the petition and quash the trial court's order.
In June 1993, the Does took custody of Madison, a newborn girl, through private adoption proceedings. In September 1993, Madison's older half-sibling, B.M., was permanently committed to the custody of HRS when Madison and B.M.'s natural mother had her parental rights over B.M. terminated. Later in September, B.M.'s foster parents, with whom B.M. had been living for nearly six months, filed a petition to adopt B.M. The Does then filed a motion in the trial court to have HRS comply with section 39.45(2), Florida Statutes (1993), which, according to the Does, required HRS to make "every reasonable attempt" to place B.M. in the same home as her half-sibling. Despite HRS' expressed intent to place B.M. with her foster parents, the trial court issued the challenged order granting the Does' motion and ordering HRS to "consider" the Does as a prospective placement for B.M. Furthermore, the court warned HRS that it should "be prepared to respond to the [Does] and the Court to define the process taken in considering the [Does] as a prospective adoptive placement for [B.M.]."
The following statutory provision was the basis for both the trial court's order and the Does' motion:
When two or more children in foster care are siblings, every reasonable attempt shall be made to place them in the same foster home; in the event of permanent commitment of the siblings, to place them in the same adoptive home; and, if the siblings are separated, to keep them in contact with each other.
Sec. 39.45(2), Fla.Stat. (1993) (emphasis added). This provision states the legislative intent to preserve the sibling relationship in foster care and adoptive placement. We can only assume that the trial court sought to give effect to this intent by applying it in the instant situation. However, the...
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Florida Dept. of Health and Rehabilitative Services v. Doe
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...the couple over HRS's objection and absent compliance with the appropriate statute. In Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services v. Doe, 643 So.2d 1100 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994), a couple had obtained custody of an infant through a private adoption. Two months later, the infant's older sib......