Florida Senate - 2016                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. CS for CS for SB 590
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Ì958958mÎ958958                         
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                  Comm: RCS            .                                
                  01/20/2016           .                                
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       The Committee on Fiscal Policy (Bradley) recommended the
       following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Before line 18
    4  insert:
    5         Section 1. Subsections (1) and (49) of section 39.01,
    6  Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
    7         39.01 Definitions.—When used in this chapter, unless the
    8  context otherwise requires:
    9         (1) “Abandoned” or “abandonment” means a situation in which
   10  the parent or legal custodian of a child or, in the absence of a
   11  parent or legal custodian, the caregiver, while being able, has
   12  made no significant contribution to the child’s care and
   13  maintenance or has failed to establish or maintain a substantial
   14  and positive relationship with the child, or both. For purposes
   15  of this subsection, “establish or maintain a substantial and
   16  positive relationship” includes, but is not limited to, frequent
   17  and regular contact with the child through frequent and regular
   18  visitation or frequent and regular communication to or with the
   19  child, and the exercise of parental rights and responsibilities.
   20  Marginal efforts and incidental or token visits or
   21  communications are not sufficient to establish or maintain a
   22  substantial and positive relationship with a child. A man’s
   23  acknowledgement of paternity of the child does not limit the
   24  period of time considered in determining whether the child was
   25  abandoned. The term does not include a surrendered newborn
   26  infant as described in s. 383.50, a “child in need of services”
   27  as defined in chapter 984, or a “family in need of services” as
   28  defined in chapter 984. The incarceration, repeated
   29  incarceration, or extended incarceration of a parent, legal
   30  custodian, or caregiver responsible for a child’s welfare may
   31  support a finding of abandonment.
   32         (49) “Parent” means a woman who gives birth to a child and
   33  a man whose consent to the adoption of the child would be
   34  required under s. 63.062(1). If a child has been legally
   35  adopted, the term “parent” means the adoptive mother or father
   36  of the child. The term does not include an individual whose
   37  parental relationship to the child has been legally terminated,
   38  or an alleged or prospective parent, unless the parental status
   39  falls within the terms of s. 39.503(1) or s. 63.062(1). For
   40  purposes of this chapter only, when the phrase “parent or legal
   41  custodian” is used, it refers to rights or responsibilities of
   42  the parent and, only if there is no living parent with intact
   43  parental rights, to the rights or responsibilities of the legal
   44  custodian who has assumed the role of the parent. The term does
   45  not include an individual whose parental relationship to the
   46  child has been legally terminated, or an alleged or prospective
   47  parent, unless:
   48         (a) The parental status falls within the terms of s.
   49  39.503(1) or s. 63.062(1); or
   50         (b) Parental status is applied for the purpose of
   51  determining whether the child has been abandoned.
   52  
   53  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
   54  And the title is amended as follows:
   55         Delete line 2
   56  and insert:
   57         An act relating to adoption; amending s. 39.01, F.S.;
   58         redefining the terms “abandoned” or “abandonment” and
   59         “parent”; amending s. 63.082, F.S.;