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Abandonment in a Termination of Parental Rights Case in the Orlando, Florida Area

What constitutes Abandonment in a Termination of Parental Rights case in the Orlando, Florida area?  Florida Statute Chapter 39.810 requires the trial court to consider the manifest best interest of the child when determining whether termination of parental rights is appropriate, including consideration of certain statutory factors. Florida Statute 39.810(5) instructs courts to consider the love, affection, and other emotional ties existing between the child and child’s present parent or parents, siblings, and other relatives, and the degree of harm to the child that would arise from the termination of parental rights and duties. 

What Can and Cannot Be Considered

The trial court cannot consider the guardian’s age and health. Section 39.810 instructs that consideration of the manifest best interest of the child shall not include a comparison between the attributes of the parents and those of any persons providing a present or potential placement of the child. 

Abandonment means that a parent has made no significant contribution to the child’s care and maintenance or has failed to establish or maintain a substantial and positive relationship with the child, or both.  

Least Restrictive Means Test

The least restrictive means test requires action less severe than termination of parental rights if such action would allow a child to be safely reunified with a parent. The test does not mean that no alternative to termination of parental rights is conceivable by a court. A decision as to whether termination is the least restrictive means of protecting a child from harm can only be made after a full assessment of all relevant circumstances. 

To satisfy the least restrictive means test, the Department of Children and Families ordinarily must show it made a good faith effort to rehabilitate the parent and reunite the family. If reunification is not possible because the father or mother cannot or will not assume responsibility as a parent to the child, as demonstrated, for example, by the repeated failure to comply with a case plan, then termination is the least restrictive means to preventing harm. The test is not whether, under controlled circumstances, a parent can have contact with the child and develop an emotional bond, but whether a mother or father can be a parent to the child, with all the responsibility and care that entails. To provide needed clarity, the test is not intended to preserve a parental bond at the cost of a child’s future. 

Availability of Relative Placement

The availability of relative placement does not mean that termination of the mother’s parental rights is not the least restrictive means of preventing harm. Courts have frequently determined that the availability of a relative placement is not the dispositive consideration under the least restrictive means test. The existence of possible placement with a relative is irrelevant to the least restrictive means test, where DCF made reasonable but unsuccessful efforts to rehabilitate the Mother and provide services to her and her children with the goal of reuniting them as a functional family.   

If you have more questions regarding an Adoption matter, you may call Ann Marie Giordano Gilden at Ann Marie Giordano Gilden, P.A. at 407-732-7620 and set an initial consultation. You may also visit my 

website at https://www.annmariegildenlaw.com

This article is for informational purposes only and does not form an attorney client privilege.