Dependency is an area of family law that most families hope to never encounter. It involves abused, abandoned, and neglected children who are removed from their parent(s) by the State of Florida. Once removed from the home, children become "dependent" upon the State as their surrogate parent and are placed with relatives, non-relatives, or in foster care. Typically, the State of Florida Department of Children and Families removes children from the home based upon its investigation of an abuse report received by the Child Abuse Hotline. However, relatives, neighbors, friends, citizens, as well as the Guardian Ad Litem and others, can also bring private dependency actions if they suspect a child is being abused, abandoned, or neglected.

The goal of all dependency actions is to protect children from abuse and neglect and to ensure their safety and well being. A secondary goal of most dependency actions, at least initially, is to ultimately reunify the family, to return the children to their parent(s). However, this is not always possible as it may not be in the children's best interests to be placed back in the care and custody of their parents. This may occur when the parents abandon a child, when they have not complied with Court ordered tasks, or when the abuse or neglect of the child is too severe or extreme. In such cases, termination of parental rights may be appropriate so that the child can be placed for adoption. As with dependency, actions to terminate parental rights may be initiated not only by the Department of Children and Families, but may also be brought privately by concerned relatives, neighbors, friends, citizens, the Guardian Ad Litem, and others.

Our firm stands prepared to assist those relatives, neighbors, friends, and private citizens who are concerned about the safety and well-being of a child, and who wish to act to protect a child from abuse, neglect, and abandonment. Our firm represents those families in bringing private actions, or in actions brought by the Department of Children and Families or the Guardian Ad Litem, for dependency and / or termination of parental rights. Likewise, our firm represents and assists families seeking to adopt an abused, abandoned, or neglected child, or to shelter such a child in their home.