|
Section 39.0139, Fla. Stat. (2007)
Right to Visitation in Chapter 39 Proceedings
Florida law provides for court ordered visitation at hearings throughout the dependency court process. These laws must comply with the Keeping Children Safe Act of 2007.
Section 39.402(9), Florida Statutes, relating to shelter placement, provides that the court shall determine visitation rights absent a clear and convincing showing that visitation is not in the best interest of the child;
Section. 39.506(6), Florida Statutes, relating to arraignment, provides that at any arraignment hearing, if the child is in an out-of-home placement, the court shall order visitation rights absent a clear and convincing showing that visitation is not in the best interest of the child;
Section 39.509, Florida Statutes, relating to grandparent's right to visitation, provides that grandparents are
entitled to reasonable visitation with his or her grandchild unless the court finds that such visitation is not in the best interest
of the child or visitation would interfere with the goals of the case
plan; and
Section 39.521, Florida Statutes, relating to disposition, provides that if the child cannot be safely placed in a non licensed placement, the court shall commit the child to the temporary legal custody of the department …The department shall not return any child to the physical care and custody of the person from whom the child was removed, except for court-approved visitation periods, without the approval of the court.
When is the rebuttable presumption of detriment to a child caused by visitation with a parent or caregiver created?
When the parent or caregiver has been the subject of a report to the child abuse hotline alleging sexual abuse of any child as defined in § 39.01(66).
When the parent or caregiver has been found guilty of, regardless of adjudication, or has entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere, to charges under the following Florida statutes or substantially similar statutes of other jurisdictions:
- Section 787.04, relating to removing minors from the state or concealing minors contrary to court order;
- Section 794.011, relating to sexual battery (Note that this is the general sexual battery statute and is not limited to child victims);
- Section 798.02, relating to lewd and lascivious behavior (This behavior need not have occurred in the presence of children);
- Chapter 800, relating to lewdness and indecent exposure (Section 800.04 deals with lewd or lascivious offenses committed upon or in the presence of persons less than 16 years of age. The first two sections, 800.02, unnatural and lascivious act, and 800.03, exposure of sexual organs, need not involve a child.);
- Section 826.04, relating to incest (sexual intercourse with a person to whom the defendant is related by lineal consanguinity, or a brother, sister, uncle, aunt, nephew, or niece);
- When the parent or caregiver has been determined by a court to be a sexual predator as defined in § 775.21 or has received a substantially similar designation under laws of another jurisdiction.
|
