niecy1215 said:
What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Florida
So three years ago at the age of 17 my sister gave birth to a baby boy. Instead of taking care of him however and being a mother to him she literally abandoned him and left him to be raised and taken care of by his grandmother. She all the while has gone off and on of drugs, lived from place to place, been involved in illegal activity, and has never contributed one penny to his finances. Now she is threatening to take him, he is three now and has everything he needs and we, her family, know that she is still unstable and unresponsible and we fear for his safety and security.
We know that she is his mother and therefore has guardianship of him however there has to be some way we can have the courts see what kind of damage she would do to him should she take him and run as well as how unstable she is financially and emotionally (she has been diagnosed with bipolar and manic depression) We fear that she would take him and that we would never hear from the child again.
Where should we take it from here?
Grandma needs to go to court and establish guardianship of the child.
Has paternity been established?
Has the child been abandoned?
Here are the grounds for termination of parental rights.
Grounds for Termination of Parental Rights Florida
Statute: § 39.806
Circumstances That Are Grounds for Termination
Abandonment or Extreme Parental Disinterest
Abuse/Neglect
Felony Conviction/Incarceration
Failure of Reasonable Efforts
Abuse/Neglect or Loss of Rights of Another Child
Sexual Abuse
Child Judged in Need of Services/Dependent
Child's Best Interest
Child in care 15 of 22 months (or less)
Felony assault of child or sibling
Murder/Manslaughter of sibling child
Circumstances That Are Not Grounds for Termination
Mental Illness or Deficiency
Alcohol or Drug Induced Incapacity
Failure to Maintain Contact
Failure to Provide Support
Failure to Establish Paternity
Fla. Stat. Ann. § 39.806 (West, WESTLAW through End of 2001 1st Reg. Sess.)
The department, the guardian ad litem, or any person who has knowledge of the facts alleged or who is informed of those facts and believes that they are true, may petition for the termination of parental rights under any of the following circumstances:
When the parent or parents have voluntarily executed a written surrender of the child and consented to the entry of an order giving custody of the child to the department for subsequent adoption and the department is willing to accept custody of the child;
Abandonment or when the identity or location of the parent or parents is unknown and cannot be ascertained by diligent search within 60 days;
When the parent or parents engaged in conduct toward the child or toward other children that demonstrates that the continuing involvement of the parent or parents in the parent-child relationship threatens the life, safety, well-being, or physical, mental, or emotional health of the child irrespective of the provision of services. Provision of services may be evidenced by proof that services were provided through a previous plan or offered as a case plan from a child welfare agency;
When the parent of a child is incarcerated in a
State or Federal correctional institution and the
period of time for which the parent is expected
to be incarcerated will constitute a substantial
portion of the period of time before the child
will attain the age of 18 years; the incarcerated
parent has been determined by the court to be a
violent career criminal, a habitual violent
felony offender, or a sexual predator; has been
convicted of first degree or second degree
murder, or a sexual battery that constitutes a
capital, life, or first degree felony violation;
has been convicted of an offense in another
jurisdiction which is a substantially similar
offense to one of the offenses listed in this
paragraph; the court determines by clear and
convincing evidence that continuing the parental
relationship with the incarcerated parent would
be harmful to the child and, for this reason,
that termination of the parental rights of the
incarcerated parent is in the best interest of
the child;
A petition for termination of parental rights may
also be filed when a child has been adjudicated
dependent, a case plan has been filed with the
court, and the child continues to be abused,
neglected, or abandoned by the parents. In this
case, the failure of the parents to substantially
comply for a period of 12 months after an
adjudication of the child as a dependent child or
the child¿s placement into shelter care,
whichever came first, constitutes evidence of
continuing abuse, neglect, or abandonment unless
the failure to substantially comply with the case
plan was due either to the lack of financial
resources of the parents or to the failure of the
department to make reasonable efforts to reunify
the family. Such 12-month period may begin to run
only after the child's placement in shelter care
or the entry of a disposition order placing the
custody of the child with the department or a
person other than the parent and the approval by
the court of a case plan with a goal of
reunification with the parent, whichever came
first;
When the parent or parents engaged in egregious
conduct or had the opportunity and capability to
prevent and knowingly failed to prevent egregious
conduct that threatens the life, safety, or
physical, mental, or emotional health of the
child or the child's sibling;
When the parent or parents have subjected the child to aggravated child abuse as defined in § 827.03, sexual battery or sexual abuse, or chronic abuse;
When the parent or parents have committed murder or voluntary manslaughter of another child of the parent, or a felony assault that results in serious bodily injury to the child or another child of the parent, or aided or abetted, attempted, conspired, or solicited to commit such a murder or voluntary manslaughter or felony assault.
Reasonable efforts to preserve and reunify families shall not be required if a court of competent jurisdiction has determined that any of the events described above have occurred.
When a petition for termination of parental rights is filed, a separate petition for dependency need not be filed and the department need not offer the parents a case plan with a goal of reunification, but may instead file with the court a case plan with a goal of termination of parental rights to allow continuation of services until the termination is granted or until further orders of the court are issued.
