Court Opinion

ID: 9406982
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-07-05 15:05:27.71097+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:20:34.465835
License: Public Domain

Third District Court of Appeal
                               State of Florida

                          Opinion filed July 5, 2023.
       Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.

                            ________________

                             No. 3D22-2036
                        Lower Tribunal No. 19-64-K
                           ________________

                            H.J., the mother,
                                  Appellant,

                                     vs.

          Department of Children and Families, et al.,
                                 Appellees.

     An appeal from the Circuit Court of Monroe County, Bonnie J. Helms,
Judge.

     Ana Gomez-Mallada (Fort Lauderdale), for appellant.

      Karla Perkins, for appellee Department of Children & Families; Sara
Elizabeth Goldfarb, and Amanda Victoria Glass (Tallahassee), for appellee
Guardian ad Litem.

Before MILLER, GORDO, and BOKOR, JJ.

     MILLER, J.
      Appellant, H.J., the mother, challenges an order terminating her

parental rights to L.H., her nine-year-old child, at the behest of appellee, the

Department of Children and Family Services. As the incidents of violence

and mental abuse chronicled in the record amply support the conclusion the

mother had “the opportunity and capability to prevent and knowingly failed to

prevent egregious conduct that threaten[ed] the life, safety, or physical,

mental, or emotional health of the . . . child’s sibling” and the termination was

in the best interest of the child, we affirm and write only to commend the trial

judge on her lucid, carefully crafted order and dispassionate handling of this

troubling case. § 39.806(1)(f), Fla. Stat. (2022); see also § 39.806(2), Fla.

Stat. (“Reasonable efforts to preserve and reunify families are not required if

a court of competent jurisdiction has determined that any of the events

described in [paragraph (1)(f)] have occurred.”); S.M.O. v. Dep’t of Child. &

Fams., 357 So. 3d 773, 778 (Fla. 3d DCA 2023) (“Section 39.806(1)(f)

permits termination of parental rights to siblings, even if there is no nexus

between the egregious conduct and the potential harm to the siblings . . . .”);

Dep’t of Child. & Fams. v. S.S.L., 352 So. 3d 521, 528 (Fla. 5th DCA 2022)

(reversing and remanding with instructions to terminate parents’ parental

rights as to both children even though only one sibling had signs of abuse);

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E.A. v. Dep’t of Child. & Fams., 332 So. 3d 493, 499 (Fla. 4th DCA 2021)

(upholding constitutionality of section 39.806(1)(f)).

      Affirmed.

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