| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to termination of parental rights; |
| 3 | amending s. 39.806, F.S.; revising provisions providing |
| 4 | for termination of parental rights based on a parent's |
| 5 | incarceration; revising language concerning the |
| 6 | consideration of a parent's failure to substantially |
| 7 | comply with a case plan as evidence of continuing abuse, |
| 8 | neglect, or abandonment in certain circumstances; |
| 9 | providing an effective date. |
| 10 |
|
| 11 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 12 |
|
| 13 | Section 1. Paragraphs (d) and (e) of subsection (1) of |
| 14 | section 39.806, Florida Statutes, are amended to read: |
| 15 | 39.806 Grounds for termination of parental rights.-- |
| 16 | (1) Grounds for the termination of parental rights may be |
| 17 | established under any of the following circumstances: |
| 18 | (d) When the parent of a child is incarcerated in a |
| 19 | federal, state, or county federal correctional institution or |
| 20 | facility and either: |
| 21 | 1. The total period of the parent's incarceration is |
| 22 | significant to the child, considering the child's age and the |
| 23 | child's need for a permanent stable home. The court shall |
| 24 | calculate the total period of incarceration beginning on the |
| 25 | date the parent enters any federal, state, or county |
| 26 | correctional institution or facility The period of time for |
| 27 | which the parent is expected to be incarcerated will constitute |
| 28 | a substantial portion of the period of time before the child |
| 29 | will attain the age of 18 years; |
| 30 | 2. The incarcerated parent has been determined by a the |
| 31 | court of competent jurisdiction to be a violent career criminal |
| 32 | as defined in s. 775.084, a habitual violent felony offender as |
| 33 | defined in s. 775.084, or a sexual predator as defined in s. |
| 34 | 775.21; has been convicted of first degree or second degree |
| 35 | murder in violation of s. 782.04 or a sexual battery that |
| 36 | constitutes a capital, life, or first degree felony violation of |
| 37 | s. 794.011; or has been convicted of an offense in another |
| 38 | jurisdiction which is substantially similar to one of the |
| 39 | offenses listed in this paragraph. As used in this section, the |
| 40 | term "substantially similar offense" means any offense that is |
| 41 | substantially similar in elements and penalties to one of those |
| 42 | listed in this subparagraph, and that is in violation of a law |
| 43 | of any other jurisdiction, whether that of another state, the |
| 44 | District of Columbia, the United States or any possession or |
| 45 | territory thereof, or any foreign jurisdiction; or |
| 46 | 3. The court determines by clear and convincing evidence |
| 47 | that continuing the parental relationship with the incarcerated |
| 48 | parent would be harmful to the child and, for this reason, that |
| 49 | termination of the parental rights of the incarcerated parent is |
| 50 | in the best interest of the child. |
| 51 | (e) When a child has been adjudicated dependent, a case |
| 52 | plan has been filed with the court, and: |
| 53 | 1. The child continues to be abused, neglected, or |
| 54 | abandoned by the parents. If 12 months pass from the In this |
| 55 | case, the failure of the parents to substantially comply for a |
| 56 | period of 12 months after an adjudication of the child as a |
| 57 | dependent child or the child's placement into shelter care, |
| 58 | whichever comes came first, the court shall consider the |
| 59 | parent's failure to substantially comply with the case plan as |
| 60 | constitutes evidence of continuing abuse, neglect, or |
| 61 | abandonment unless the failure to substantially comply with the |
| 62 | case plan was due either to the lack of financial resources of |
| 63 | the parents or to the failure of the department to make |
| 64 | reasonable efforts to reunify the parent and child. The 12-month |
| 65 | period begins to run only after the child's placement into |
| 66 | shelter care or the entry of a disposition order placing the |
| 67 | custody of the child with the department or a person other than |
| 68 | the parent and the approval by the court of a case plan with a |
| 69 | goal of reunification with the parent, whichever came first; or |
| 70 | 2. The parent has materially breached the case plan by |
| 71 | making it unlikely that he or she will be able to substantially |
| 72 | comply with the case plan before the time for compliance |
| 73 | expires. Time is of the essence for permanency of children in |
| 74 | the dependency system. In order to prove the parent has |
| 75 | materially breached the case plan, the court must find by clear |
| 76 | and convincing evidence that the parent is unlikely or unable to |
| 77 | substantially comply with the case plan before time expires to |
| 78 | comply with the case plan. |
| 79 | Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2008. |