LABARGA, C.J.
B.R.C.M., a minor child, seeks review of the decision of the Third District Court of Appeal in
B.R.C.M., an unaccompanied minor from Guatemala, illegally entered the United States at age thirteen and was released by the Office of Refugee Resettlement to his godmother as a sponsor.
On appeal, the Third District repeatedly observed that the child's sole purpose in filing the dependency petition was to facilitate an application for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) and seek lawful permanent residency.
The Third District's conclusion — that B.R.C.M. was not entitled to the protections of Chapter 39 because he is not "truly" abandoned, abused, or neglected and that his petition was filed for the sole purpose of seeking an immigration status — expressly conflicts with the decision of the First District in
In
The purpose of Chapter 39 is "[t]o provide for the care, safety, and protection of children ...; to ensure secure and safe custody; to promote the health and well-being of all children under the state's care; and to prevent the occurrence of child abuse, neglect, and abandonment." § 39.001(1)(a), Fla. Stat. (2014). Consistent with this purpose, section 39.01(15) provides seven independent grounds upon which a child may be adjudicated dependent. "[W]hen a Florida court is presented with a dependency petition, the court's concern should be whether the allegations made in support of an adjudication of dependency satisfy Florida's statutory grounds for such an adjudication, not whether the [juvenile] hopes to obtain [SIJS]."
In his dissent in
In this case, the dependency petition was filed on behalf of B.R.C.M. by next friends having personal knowledge of the facts alleged, in accordance with Florida dependency law and procedure.
When a petition for dependency alleges specific facts supporting a finding of dependency under any of the seven statutory grounds, the circuit court must make individualized factual findings and apply the law to the facts in order to make a proper adjudication of dependency.
Because the Third District approved the summary denial of B.R.C.M.'s petition on the basis that his purpose was to seek lawful permanent residency, and determined that he was not "truly" needy without any factual record or evidence regarding the child's circumstances, we quash the decision below.
We agree with the dissent below that "B.R.C.M.'s `private petition' for dependency... warrants individualized consideration
It is so ordered.
PARIENTE, J., concurs.
LAWSON, J., concurs specially with an opinion.
LEWIS, J., concurs in result with an opinion.
CANADY, J., dissents with an opinion, in which QUINCE and POLSTON, JJ., concur.
LAWSON, J., specially concurring.
I write separately to acknowledge that Justice Canady and those joining his dissent make some valid observations, with which I do not disagree. However, the dissent also appears to agree that there is an express and direct conflict between the Third District's decision in
Unlike the dissent, I prefer to reach the conflict issue rather than essentially approve the result reached by the Third District on the alternative ground that the petition could have been dismissed based upon pleading deficiencies. The general rule is that a pleading should not be dismissed without leave to amend unless the privilege to amend "has been abused" or amendment would be "futile," i.e., where the pleading deficiencies cannot be cured.
LEWIS, J., concurring in result.
Although I cannot agree with the summary nature of the proceedings below, I do agree with the multiple district courts in Florida, including the Third District which have essentially held that the structure of statutory dependency in Florida cannot and should not be allowed to be transformed into an immigration processing system which is strictly reserved for our federal immigration authorities. The problems generated by this approach seem to be widely increasing and need legislative attention and clarification immediately.
CANADY, J., dissenting.
Although I do not agree with certain elements of the Third District's reasoning in
I agree with the majority that "[i]f a child meets the statutory criteria for dependency, the child must be adjudicated accordingly, regardless of the child's motivations for seeking a dependency adjudication" and that "[w]hether the petition seeks an adjudication to assist the child in applying for an immigration status under federal law is not a basis for summarily dismissing or denying the petition." Majority op. at 1223. I also agree with the majority that "[i]f the petition states a prima facie case, the petitioner should be permitted to introduce evidence in support of his or her claims, and the court should enter specific adjudicative findings responsive to the issues presented by the petition and the evidentiary record."
The Petitioner argues here that a determination of dependency is justified on three separate grounds. One of those grounds, however, was not pleaded in the petition. And the facts alleged in the petition are not sufficient to show a prima facie case under either of the other two grounds on which the Petitioner relies.
The petition is devoid of any claim for a determination that B.R.C.M. is a dependent child on the ground enumerated in section 39.01(15)(e), Florida Statutes (2014) — that is, as a child found "[t]o have no parent or legal custodians capable of providing supervision and care." In the absence of a claim in the petition that dependency exists and should be adjudicated on this specific ground, this basis for determining dependency has never been properly at issue in this case. Requiring an evidentiary hearing regarding this unpleaded claim is totally unjustified.
Nor is an evidentiary hearing justified on the other two grounds asserted by the Petitioner. The facts alleged in the petition do not establish a prima facie case that B.R.C.M. is a dependent child on the grounds enumerated in either section 39.01(15)(a), as a child found "[t]o have been abandoned, abused, or neglected by the child's parent or parents or legal custodians," or section 39.01(15)(f), as a child found "[t]o be at substantial risk of imminent abuse, abandonment, or neglect by the parent or parents or legal custodians." Understanding the insufficiency of the claims made on these two grounds requires a journey through the definitional maze of section 39.01. The dependency claim here relates to abandonment and neglect — not to abuse. And the insufficiency of that claim turns at least in part on elements of the statutory definitions of abandonment and neglect. The insufficiency is also indicated by the way the basic definitional term at issue here is framed: "[c]hild who is found to be dependent." § 39.01(15), Fla. Stat. (2014). The very term itself suggests a determination based on circumstances that are not temporally remote. Such a determination thus could not be based on the circumstances in Guatemala years ago that are alleged in the petition.
Abandonment is defined in section 39.01(1) as
The allegations of abandonment in the petition fail to pass muster under this definition for two reasons. Even to the extent that the conduct of the Petitioner's parents in Guatemala might be considered a proper focus, the petition contains no allegations that the parents were able to do anything to remedy their failures regarding the care of B.R.C.M. More to the point, there is no allegation of any deficiency on the part of the caregiver — B.R.C.M.'s godmother — to whom B.R.C.M. has been entrusted by the federal government. Indeed, B.R.C.M. seeks to remain in the custody of the caregiver.
It is not subject to dispute that under federal law B.R.C.M. is in the custody of the government of the United States, which has ultimate responsibility for his well-being. The person to whom B.R.C.M. has been entrusted by the federal government is properly deemed a caregiver within the meaning of section 39.01. The definition of caregiver in section 39.01(10) includes a "person responsible for a child's welfare as defined in subsection (47)." Section 39.01(47) includes within the various categories specified a broad reference to "any other person legally responsible for the child's welfare in a residential setting." B.R.C.M.'s godmother has necessarily undertaken obligations as a condition for the placement of B.R.C.M. with her "in a residential setting" by the federal government that readily bring her within this category.
Regarding the allegations of neglect, as with the allegations of abandonment, there is no claim that the godmother has in any way neglected B.R.C.M. And regarding the allegations concerning the parents, the dependency claim runs aground on the provision contained in section 39.01(44)'s definition of neglect that circumstances depriving a child of proper care "shall not be considered neglect if caused primarily by financial inability unless actual services for relief have been offered to and rejected by such person." The allegations of the petition contain not a hint that the circumstances affecting B.R.C.M.'s family in Guatemala were the result of anything other than "financial inability." Further, as previously mentioned, it is questionable that allegations of such temporally remote circumstances are a proper predicate for an adjudication of current dependency.
The allegations of the petition also fail to support the claim under section 39.01(15)(f) that B.R.C.M. is "at substantial risk of imminent abuse, abandonment, or neglect by the parent or parents or legal custodians." This claim is based on the specter of deportation and the circumstances that B.R.C.M. might face in Guatemala after being deported. As a practical matter, it seems virtually certain that any return of B.R.C.M. to Guatemala would occur only when B.R.C.M. is an adult. In any event, leaving that practical matter aside, the allegations of the petition simply do not show an "imminent" risk of anything. The allegations rest on nothing more than speculation that the federal government might deport B.R.C.M. Beyond the fact that the requirement that an "imminent" risk be established has not been met, it is a dubious proposition that section 39.01(15) is designed to protect against actions of the federal government under the immigration laws.
The decision of the First District in
QUINCE and POLSTON, JJ., concur.