STATE OF FLORIDA

DIVISION OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS

DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND ) FAMILY SERVICES, )

)

Petitioner, )

)

vs. ) Case No. 99-0962

)

RUDOLPH PARKINSON and )

MRS. RUDOLPH PARKINSON, )

)

Respondents. )

)

RECOMMENDED ORDER

Pursuant to notice, a formal hearing was held in this case on May 24, 1998, via video teleconference, with the Petitioner and the Respondent appearing at Miami, Florida, before Patricia Hart Malono, a duly-designated administrative law judge of the Division of Administrative Hearings.

APPEARANCES

For Petitioner: Rosemarie Rinaldi, Esquire

Department of Children and Family Services

401 Northwest Second Avenue Miami, Florida 33128

For Respondent: Mr. and Mrs. Rudolph Parkinson, pro se

460 Northeast 171st Terrace Miami, Florida 33162

STATEMENT OF THE ISSUE

Whether the Respondents committed the violations alleged in the Notice of Intent to Revoke Foster Home License dated January 27, 1999.

PRELIMINARY STATEMENT

In a Notice of Intent to Revoke Foster Home License dated January 27, 1999, the Department of Children and Family Services ("Department") notified Rudolph and Jaquiline Parkinson that their foster home license was revoked effective that date. The allegation included in the notice was that Mr. and Mrs. Parkinson medically neglected a foster child in their home by failing to seek medical attention for the child for over twenty-four hours. Mr. and Mrs. Parkinson requested a hearing, and the Department referred the case to the Division of Administrative Hearings for assignment of an administrative law judge. By notice, the hearing was held on May 24, 1999.

At the hearing, the Department presented the testimony of five witnesses: Rita Doval, a Registered Nurse employed by the University of Miami Child Protection Team; Dr. Walter F. Lambert, a pediatrician who is medical director of the University of Miami Child Protection Team; Vencher Joanne Papillon, a foster care supervisor employed by the Department; Rudolph Parkinson; and Jaquiline Parkinson. Petitioner's Exhibits 1 through 5 were offered and received into evidence. During the Department's case, Mr. and Mrs. Parkinson were allowed to testify in their own behalf, and Respondents' Exhibits 1 through 5 were offered and received into evidence.

A transcript of the final hearing was filed with the Division of Administrative Hearings, and the Department submitted proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law.

FINDINGS OF FACT

Based on the oral and documentary evidence presented at the final hearing and on the entire record of this proceeding, the following findings of fact are made:

1. The Department of Children and Family Services is the state agency responsible for licensing and monitoring foster homes. Subsections 409.175(3)(a) and (4)(a), Florida Statutes. The Department also has the authority to suspend, revoke, or deny foster home licenses. Subsection 409.175(8), Florida Statutes.

2. At the times material to this case, Mr. and

   
   

   Mrs. Parkinson were licensed as foster parents in Dade County, Florida. As a prerequisite to licensure, they completed the required thirty-hour MAPP training course given to all foster parents, and they also completed twelve hours of in-service training.

3. Mrs. Parkinson is a certified nurse's aide, and, in addition to the basic foster-parent training, she completed a course in medical training for foster parents.

4. Mr. and Mrs. Parkinson have two natural children living in their home, and, at the times material to this case, two foster children lived in the home, as well. The children were aged one, two, three, and nine years.

5. On the evening of November 9, 1998, Mr. and Mrs. Parkinson's daughter had a stomach virus. Mr. and

   Mrs. Parkinson and all four children went to the emergency room at Parkway Hospital, which was located about ten minutes by car from the Parkinson home. Mr. Parkinson dropped off his wife and daughter and took the other three children back home.

6. After they returned to the house at about 8:30 p.m., two of the children, including the foster child, R.W., watched cartoons on television. Mr. Parkinson put a pot of rice on the stove to cook, left the kitchen, and went to his room to watch television while the rice cooked.

7. Mr. and Mrs. Parkinson usually pull a heavy board across the entrance to the kitchen when they cook to keep the small children out, but Mr. Parkinson did not block the entrance to the kitchen on November 9, 1998, when he left the room after putting the rice on to cook.

8. While he was in his room, Mr. Parkinson heard dishes falling in the kitchen. He went into the kitchen and saw the rice pot cover on the floor. R.W. was rubbing his eyes and crying, and the other child was standing in the kitchen.

   Mr. Parkinson asked what had happened to R.W., and the child answered that he didn't know. Mr. Parkinson thought R.W. and the other child had been fighting. He gave R.W. and the other child some milk and cereal and sent them to their rooms. The children were asleep a short time later.

9. Mr. Parkinson was not aware at the time that anything was wrong with R.W. R.W. was twenty-four months old, and his verbal skills were not well developed.

10. Mrs. Parkinson returned and the oldest child returned from the emergency room between 11:00 p.m. and 12:00 a.m. The children were asleep, and Mrs. Parkinson did not remember hearing any of the children cry during the night.

11. At about 7:30 a.m. or 8:00 a.m. the next morning, November 10, 1998, Mr. and Mrs. Parkinson noticed that R.W. was having trouble walking. He was walking on the outside of his feet and appeared to be in pain. Mr. and Mrs. Parkinson also noticed that R.W. was crying and holding his right ankle. They looked at the bottom of his feet and saw small blisters on the soles. Mrs. Parkinson thought that R.W. had been playing in the tree outside the house and had hurt his feet by walking on the sharp gravel under the tree.

12. Mrs. Parkinson treated R.W.'s feet with Neosporin ointment, a first-aid cream. She used an alcohol swab to clean some dirt from his ankles, but she did not put alcohol on the blistered areas of his feet.

13. Sometime between noon and 2:00 p.m. on November 10, 1998, Mrs. Parkinson telephoned R.W.'s caseworker and told him that R.W.'s feet were blistered and that she thought he had been playing on sharp gravel. She asked if the social worker could come to her house, but he was busy that day. Mrs. Parkinson also

    spoke on the telephone with R.W.'s mother on November 10, 1998, between noon and 2:00 p.m., and she told his mother that she couldn't take R.W. for the visit scheduled for Wednesday, November 11, 1998, because she had car problems and had no transportation available.

14. After she talked with R.W.'s mother, Mrs. Parkinson telephoned her backup foster mother to ask her to take

    Mrs. Parkinson and R.W. to the Parkway Hospital and to help take care of the other three children. The oldest child was still very ill with the stomach flu and needed a lot of attention. The backup foster mother did not answer Mrs. Parkinson's call.

15. R.W. tried to play during the day, but he was not able to walk very well. By the afternoon of November 10, 1998,

    Mrs. Parkinson noticed that R.W.'s feet were becoming redder.

    
    

    She still did not realize that his feet were burned. If she had known, she would have called the paramedics or used her emergency money to take R.W. to the hospital.

16. By the time Mr. Parkinson got home from work on the evening of November 10, 1998, the blisters on R.W.'s feet were larger, and R.W.'s feet were swollen. Between 6:00 and 7:00 p.m., Mr. and Mrs. Parkinson took R.W. to the emergency room at the Parkway Hospital. The emergency-room doctor diagnosed the injuries to the bottom of R.W.'s feet as burns.

17. On November 13, 1998, R.W. was seen by Dr. Walter Lambert, a pediatrician who is the medical director of the

    University of Miami Child Protection Team for Miami-Dade and Monroe counties. 1/ R.W. was brought into his office by Mr. and Mrs. Parkinson. The medical examination revealed that R.W. had second-degree burns on both feet, with the most serious burns on the right foot. On the basis of the pattern of the burns,

    Dr. Lambert concluded that the injury was accidental rather than intentionally inflicted. Based on information obtained from Mr. and Mrs. Parkinson, Dr. Lambert surmised that R.W. stepped into a pool of hot water on the kitchen floor.

18. Mrs. Parkinson should have had transportation available to transport R.W. to the emergency room as soon as it became clear that the injuries to his feet were getting worse. Second- degree burns are very painful, and Mr. and Mrs. Parkinson should not have waited to get medical attention for R.W. until the evening of November 10, 1998, almost twelve hours after they noticed that his feet were blistered, that he was in pain, and that he was not able to walk normally.

    CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

    
    

19. The Division of Administrative Hearings has jurisdiction over the subject matter of this proceeding and of the parties thereto pursuant to Section 120.569 and .57(1), Florida Statutes (1999).

20. Section 409.175(1), Florida Statutes (1997), provides in pertinent part:

    (f) "License" means "license" as defined in

    s. 120.52(9). A license under this section

    is issued to a family foster home or other facility and is not a professional license of any individual. Receipt of a license under this section shall not create a property right in the recipient. A license under this act is a public trust and a privilege, and is not an entitlement. This privilege must guide the finder of fact or trier of law at any administrative proceeding or court action initiated by the department.

    Accordingly, the Department must prove the allegations in the Notice of Intent to Revoke Foster Home License by a preponderance of the evidence. Cf. Ferris v. Turlington, 510 So. 2d 292

    (Fla. 1987)(clear and convincing evidence necessary to revoke or suspend a professional license).

21. Section 409.175(7)(a), Florida Statutes (1997), provides that the Department may deny, suspend, or revoke the license of a foster home if it is found that the foster parents have violated "the provisions of this section or of licensing rules promulgated pursuant to this section."

22. The Department promulgated rules governing the licensing of foster homes in Rule Chapter 65C-13, Florida Administrative Code. Rule 65C-13.10(1) specifies the duties foster parents owe children placed in their care. Requirements relating to health care are found in Rule 65C-13.10(1)(a)6.b., which provides in pertinent part: "The substitute care parents are expected to transport children for medical, dental or other appointments which may be needed."

23. In addition, Rule 65C-13.11(16)(a), Florida Administrative Code, provides in pertinent part: "Substitute parents must have transportation available 24 hours a day."

24. Based on the findings of fact herein, the Department has satisfied its burden of proving that Mr. and Mrs. Parkinson failed to timely provide needed medical care for R.W. and, therefore, that Mr. and Mrs. Parkinson violated the licensing rules adopted by the Department to govern the duties and responsibilities of foster parents. Pursuant to Section 409.175(7)(a), Florida Statutes (1997), this constitutes grounds for revoking their foster home license.

RECOMMENDATION

Based on the foregoing Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, it is RECOMMENDED that the Department of Children and Family Services enter a final order finding that Mr. and Mrs. Parkinson violated Rules 65C-13.10(1)(a)6.b. and 65C-13.11(16)(a), Florida Administrative Code, and revoking their foster home license.

DONE AND ENTERED this 21st day of October, 1999, in Tallahassee, Leon County, Florida.

PATRICIA HART MALONO

Administrative Law Judge

Division of Administrative Hearings The DeSoto Building

1230 Apalachee Parkway

Tallahassee, Florida 32399-3060

(850) 488-9675 SUNCOM 278-9675

Fax Filing (850) 921-6847 www.doah.state.fl.us

Filed with the Clerk of the Division of Administrative Hearings this 21st day of October, 1999.

ENDNOTE

1/ The Child Protection Team does not treat injuries. The injuries are examined and forensic evidence of the injuries is documented.

COPIES FURNISHED:

Rosemarie Rinaldi, Esquire Department of Children and

Family Services

401 Northwest Second Avenue Miami, Florida 33128

Mr. and Mrs. Rudolph Parkinson

460 Northeast 171st Terrace Miami, Florida 33162

Samuel C. Chavers, Acting Agency Clerk Department of Children and

Family Services Building 2, Room 204B 1317 Winewood Boulevard

Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0700

John S. Slye, General Counsel Department of Children and

Family Services Building 2, Room 204

1317 Winewood Boulevard

Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0700

NOTICE OF RIGHT TO SUBMIT EXCEPTIONS

All parties have the right to submit written exceptions within 15 days from the date of this Recommended Order. Any exceptions to this Recommended Order should be filed with the agency that will issue the Final Order in this case.

Docket for Case No: 99-000962

Orders for Case No: 99-000962