# Florida Dependency Law Finder: instructions for AI assistants A person has asked you to help them research Florida dependency and termination-of-parental-rights law using the Dependency Law Finder (https://law.robertlathamesq.org). This file says what the site holds, how to reach it (plain links, no key, no login), and how to do the research and report it. Read all of it before you start. If you have the Law Finder as a connector (MCP server https://law.robertlathamesq.org/mcp, tools such as `search_cases` and `get_section`), use its tools instead of fetching these addresses; the ground rules below still apply. ## Ground rules 1. **Use the site, not memory.** Every case, statute, rule or procedure you rely on must come from a response you fetched from this site in this conversation. If you can't find support for a point here, say so plainly. Never supply a case or a citation from memory. 2. **Link everything.** Give each authority with its page on this site (the `url` field), so the person can open it and check. Cite cases as the site gives them (`citation`; a docket number where there is no reporter citation yet). 3. **Quote only what you saw word for word.** When you say what a case held or what a statute requires, quote the text. If your fetch tool summarizes or shortens what it gets, don't quote from its summary: get the exact words with a `find` address (below), which returns only the passages with the words you name. If you couldn't see the exact words, paraphrase and say so. The `summary`, `outcome`, `issues` and `cited_for` fields are AI-written index entries: use them to choose what to read, not as the holding. 4. **Check that the law is current.** Statutes are renumbered over the years: `law_cited[].now` gives a provision's number today. Check a case's `higher_court_review`, its `negative_treatment` (a case here or a commonly cited case) and its later citing cases, and Law Changes for proposed changes that aren't law yet. 5. **Protect the person's privacy.** The site is public. Never put names, initials, case numbers, dates of birth or other identifying details from the person's own matter into a search or any address. Search by legal issue and by facts in general terms ("incarcerated father", "medical neglect"). 6. **It's research, not legal advice.** The site gathers public sources and is reviewed by AI and by a person, but text processing errors can occur. Tell the person to check each authority against the official source (the `official_source` field, and the links on each page) before relying on it. ## How to reach the site Everything is a plain GET of a plain address: no `?`, no key. Responses are small JSON, and **every item links to its own address** (`api`), and every long list to its next page (`next`). So you can start from a link in this file and follow links from there, without building any address yourself. **If your fetch tool opens only links it has already seen** (some chat assistants work this way): follow the links. Start from the lists and the issue and fact-pattern links below, then the `api` links in each response. Only a word search needs an address you build. If your tool refuses one, give the person the exact address, for example `https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/search/least+restrictive+means`, ask them to paste it back to you, and carry on from its results. ### Start here - Every list and search, in one place: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api - Statutes, every section: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/law/stat - Juvenile Rules, every rule: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/law/rule - Admin code (65C), every rule: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/law/fac - Federal law: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/law/usc and https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/law/cfr - CFOPs: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/cfops - Issues, with how many cases each: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issues - Fact patterns: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/facts - Commonly cited cases: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/cited ### A statute, rule or admin code section `/api/law//`, `` being `stat`, `rule`, `fac`, `usc` or `cfr` (federal numbers are `/<section>`). For example: - https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/law/stat/39.806 - https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/law/rule/8.420 - https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/law/fac/65C-30.001 - https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/law/usc/25/1912 It returns the `title`, the `text` (one provision a line, each led by its number), the `history`, and the cases citing the section under any number it has had, 25 at a time (`next` for more). Each case has `provisions_cited`, `times_cited`, `cited_by_others_here` (how many of the other cases on this section cite it: a measure of its authority on the section), `outcome`, `summary`, `snippet` (the opinion's words around the citation), `api` and `url`. `cases_on_one_provision` links the cases on each provision (`/api/law/stat/39.806/prov/(1)(f)`), and `other_orders` links the same cases most relied on first (`/by/authority`) or newest first (`/by/new`). ### Cases on an issue or with a fact pattern The indexed cases on an issue, most relied on by the others in the list first, each with its outcome on that issue; the links are under **Issues** and **Fact patterns** below. 25 at a time, `next` for more. ### A case `/api/case/<slug>`. For example, Padgett v. Department of Health & Rehabilitative Services, the Florida Supreme Court's least-restrictive-means decision: - https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/case/SC74357 It returns the `citation`, `court`, `date`, `disposition`, `author`, `panel`, the index fields (`summary`, `outcome`, `issues` with the outcome on each, `fact_patterns`), `cited_for` (what later decisions cite it for), `higher_court_review` (Florida Supreme Court review sought, accepted or decided), `law_cited` (each provision as cited and as numbered `now`, with its `api`), `cases_cited`, `commonly_cited_cases_cited`, `cited_by_cases_here` (later decisions in the collection citing it, newest first: the first 20 of `cited_by_cases_here_count`, and `cited_by_cases_here_all` links them all), `official_source`, and the opinion's `text`, 20,000 characters at a time (`text_next` for the rest). - `/api/case/<slug>/find/<words>`: only the passages of the opinion with all the words (`"a quoted phrase"` as one; `terminat!` for words starting so), with their exact wording, for quoting. For example: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/case/SC74357/find/least+restrictive+means - `/api/case/<slug>/brief`: the record without the text, for a quick look at several cases. - `/api/case/<slug>/cited-by`: all the cases here citing it, 25 at a time. Slugs are the docket number with a court prefix: `1D2025-3337` (1st DCA), `SC03-123` (Florida Supreme Court), `US455-745` (U.S. Supreme Court, by volume and page). A `court` of "District Court of Appeal" means CourtListener didn't record which district; the docket number usually says. ### Searches (addresses you build) - Cases, full text: `/api/search/<words>`, 25 at a time: the cases with the words in their name first (a party's name finds that case before the ones citing it), then best match; `?sort=newest`, `oldest`, `court` (highest court first) or `cited` (most cited first) instead. For example: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/search/least+restrictive+means+incarcerat! Words are all required; `"quoted phrases"` (as `%22least+restrictive+means%22`) match exactly; `terminat!` matches words starting so; ICWA, UCCJEA, ASFA, CAPTA, PKPA and SIJ match their full names too; a reporter citation (`202+So.+3d+769`) or a docket number finds that case. It also finds cases that aren't indexed (`indexed`: false), so read a case before relying on it. Each result has `snippet` (the matched words in «»), `api` and `url`, and `commonly_cited_cases` lists up to five of those that match. - The law (statutes, rules, admin code, CFOPs, forms, federal): `/api/law-search/<words>`, or one source with `/api/law-search/<stat|rule|fac|cfop|form|fed>/<words>`. A section or rule number (`39.806`, `8.420`, `65C-30.001`) goes straight to it. For example: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/law-search/case+plan+amendment and one source only: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/law-search/cfop/relative+home+study ### A commonly cited case About 160 cases the collection cites often that are mostly not dependency cases (Mathews v. Eldridge, Beagle v. Beagle). The list: - https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/cited `/api/cited/<slug>` returns the `citation`, `negative_treatment` (reviewed: overruled, abrogated, limited and the like, with who did it), `flags_not_yet_reviewed` (possible negative treatment found by a word match, not yet checked: treat as unknown, not as bad law), `cited_for`, `cited_by_cases_here` and the `text`, with `/find/<words>`, `/brief` and `/cited-by` as for a case. A case in the collection has the same `negative_treatment` and `flags_not_yet_reviewed` in `/api/case/<slug>` (and a list gives a case's `negative_treatment` when it has one). For example, Beagle v. Beagle: - https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/cited/678-So2d-1271 ### A CFOP `/api/cfop/<id>/page/<n>` returns three pages' text, the CFOP's `outline` (each section linked to its page) and `next`. `/api/cfop/<id>/find/<words>` returns the passages with the words, by page. The list, and the first pages of CFOP 170-5 (Child Protective Investigations): - https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/cfops - https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/cfop/170-5/page/1 ### Law Changes (a web page) - https://law.robertlathamesq.org/changes It lists what isn't law yet: bills in the Florida Legislature and Congress, DCF's proposed 65C rules, Juvenile Rules amendment cases, Florida Supreme Court review of district court decisions, and certified questions it hasn't answered. ## What's here - **Cases** (8,477): Florida appellate decisions in dependency, termination and related chapter 39 matters (Florida Supreme Court and the 1st through 6th District Courts of Appeal), plus U.S. Supreme Court and Eleventh Circuit decisions on the same subjects, from CourtListener; new decisions added daily. 1,762 written opinions are **indexed** by issue, outcome, appellant, case type and fact pattern, each with a summary. The rest (mostly per curiam affirmances without opinion, and new decisions not yet indexed) are found only by full-text search and through the statutes and cases that link to them. - **Commonly cited cases** (about 160), with their later negative treatment reviewed. - **Florida Statutes**: chapter 39 in full; the child welfare sections of chapter 409; chapter 63 (adoption); chapter 61 Part II (UCCJEA); chapter 743; sections 741.04, 1009.25 and 1009.533. Current text, with each section's history. - **Florida Rules of Juvenile Procedure** (rules 8.xxx), current. - **Florida Administrative Code** chapter 65C (DCF's child welfare rules) and rule 6A-10.087. - **CFOPs**: DCF's operating procedures, full text by page. - **Forms**: DCF's child welfare forms (found by the law search). - **Federal law**: ICWA, Title IV-E, CAPTA, Special Immigrant Juvenile status, the Hague abduction convention's act (ICARA) and the PKPA, in the U.S. Code and the CFR. - **Law Changes**: bills, proposed rules, Juvenile Rules amendment cases, Florida Supreme Court review of district court decisions, and open certified questions. Everything is updated automatically each morning. ## Issues The indexed cases on each issue, by topic: **Termination** - Written findings & sufficiency of the order: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/written-findings-and-sufficiency-of-the-order - Least restrictive means: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/least-restrictive-means - TPR ground: case plan noncompliance / continuing abuse: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/tpr-ground-case-plan-noncompliance-continuing-abuse - Manifest best interests: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/manifest-best-interests - TPR ground: continuing involvement threatens the child: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/tpr-ground-continuing-involvement-threatens-the-child - TPR ground: egregious conduct: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/tpr-ground-egregious-conduct - TPR ground: abandonment: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/tpr-ground-abandonment - TPR: sufficiency of evidence, general: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/tpr-sufficiency-of-evidence-general - TPR ground: incarceration: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/tpr-ground-incarceration - Expedited termination without a case plan: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/expedited-termination-without-a-case-plan - One-parent termination: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/one-parent-termination - TPR ground: prior involuntary TPR of a sibling: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/tpr-ground-prior-involuntary-tpr-of-a-sibling - TPR ground: three or more out-of-home placements: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/tpr-ground-three-or-more-out-of-home-placements - TPR ground: aggravated abuse, sexual battery or chronic abuse: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/tpr-ground-aggravated-abuse-sexual-battery-or-chronic-abuse - TPR ground: voluntary surrender: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/tpr-ground-voluntary-surrender - TPR ground: chronic substance abuse: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/tpr-ground-chronic-substance-abuse - TPR ground: murder or manslaughter: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/tpr-ground-murder-or-manslaughter - TPR ground: sexual predator: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/tpr-ground-sexual-predator - TPR ground: child conceived by sexual battery: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/tpr-ground-child-conceived-by-sexual-battery - TPR ground: drug-exposed newborn: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/tpr-ground-drug-exposed-newborn **Dependency** - Dependency adjudication: sufficiency of evidence: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/dependency-adjudication-sufficiency-of-evidence - Disposition, case plan & reasonable efforts: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/disposition-case-plan-and-reasonable-efforts - Shelter: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/shelter **Post-disposition** - Permanency goals other than reunification: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/permanency-goals-other-than-reunification - Placement & ICPC: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/placement-and-icpc - Reunification: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/reunification - Visitation & contact: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/visitation-and-contact - Adoption after termination: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/adoption-after-termination - Child's medical & mental-health care: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/child-s-medical-and-mental-health-care - Extended foster care, independent living & child support: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/extended-foster-care-independent-living-and-child-support **Procedure & due process** - Right to be heard & hearing procedure: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/right-to-be-heard-and-hearing-procedure - Notice & service of process: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/notice-and-service-of-process - Default & consent by nonappearance: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/default-and-consent-by-nonappearance - Discovery, subpoenas & compelled examinations: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/discovery-subpoenas-and-compelled-examinations - Pleas, stipulations & surrenders: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/pleas-stipulations-and-surrenders - Judicial disqualification: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/judicial-disqualification - Contempt & enforcement: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/contempt-and-enforcement **Evidence** - Evidence: hearsay: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/evidence-hearsay - Evidence: expert & medical testimony: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/evidence-expert-and-medical-testimony - Evidence: other: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/evidence-other - Evidence: records, judicial notice & prior proceedings: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/evidence-records-judicial-notice-and-prior-proceedings - Evidence: child witnesses: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/evidence-child-witnesses **Parties & counsel** - No-merit dismissal: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/no-merit-dismissal - Right to counsel & ineffective assistance: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/right-to-counsel-and-ineffective-assistance - Parties & standing: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/parties-and-standing - Third-party intervention: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/third-party-intervention - Paternity & who is a parent: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/paternity-and-who-is-a-parent - Guardian ad litem & attorney ad litem: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/guardian-ad-litem-and-attorney-ad-litem **Jurisdiction, record & review** - Appellate jurisdiction & timeliness: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/appellate-jurisdiction-and-timeliness - Trial-court jurisdiction & venue: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/trial-court-jurisdiction-and-venue - Preservation & fundamental error: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/preservation-and-fundamental-error - Post-judgment relief: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/post-judgment-relief - Other: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/other - Attorney's fees & sanctions: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/attorney-s-fees-and-sanctions - Record & transcript problems: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/record-and-transcript-problems - ICWA: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/icwa **Writs** - Certiorari: departure from the essential requirements of law: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/certiorari-departure-from-the-essential-requirements-of-law - Certiorari: irreparable harm: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/certiorari-irreparable-harm - Certiorari: cannot be remedied on appeal: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/certiorari-cannot-be-remedied-on-appeal - Habeas corpus: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/habeas-corpus - Prohibition: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/prohibition - Mandamus: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/mandamus **Constitutional & federal law** - Procedural due process: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/procedural-due-process - Parental rights as a fundamental liberty interest: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/parental-rights-as-a-fundamental-liberty-interest - Section 1983 liability & immunity: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/section-1983-liability-and-immunity - Equal protection & access to courts: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/equal-protection-and-access-to-courts - Standard of proof: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/standard-of-proof - Abstention & federal jurisdiction: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/abstention-and-federal-jurisdiction - Federal child welfare statutes: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/federal-child-welfare-statutes - Fourth Amendment: removals & searches: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/issue/fourth-amendment-removals-and-searches ## Fact patterns - Relative or grandparent caregiver: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/fact/relative-or-grandparent-caregiver - Parent's substance abuse: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/fact/parent-s-substance-abuse - Physical abuse or injury: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/fact/physical-abuse-or-injury - Parent's incarceration: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/fact/parent-s-incarceration - Domestic violence: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/fact/domestic-violence - Out-of-state parent or child: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/fact/out-of-state-parent-or-child - Abandonment / no contact or support: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/fact/abandonment-no-contact-or-support - Sexual abuse: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/fact/sexual-abuse - Housing, poverty & inadequate supervision: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/fact/housing-poverty-and-inadequate-supervision - Parent's mental illness: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/fact/parent-s-mental-illness - Child's behavioral or mental-health needs: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/fact/child-s-behavioral-or-mental-health-needs - Medical neglect: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/fact/medical-neglect - Teen in care / crossover with delinquency: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/fact/teen-in-care-crossover-with-delinquency - Immigration: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/fact/immigration - Death or near death of a child or sibling: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/fact/death-or-near-death-of-a-child-or-sibling - Drug-exposed newborn: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/fact/drug-exposed-newborn - Gender identity or sexual orientation: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/fact/gender-identity-or-sexual-orientation - Parent's intellectual or developmental disability: https://law.robertlathamesq.org/api/fact/parent-s-intellectual-or-developmental-disability ## Narrowing a word search A word search can be narrowed with these, added after a `?` (for tools that can build such addresses): `issue=`, `topic=`, `outcome=`, `appellant=`, `case_type=`, `fact=`, `court=`, `year=`, as `/api/search/reunification?court=1st+DCA`. The values: an issue or fact pattern exactly as named above; the topics' names; outcomes Reversed & remanded; Affirmed; Reversed; Dismissed; Certiorari / writ granted; Affirmed in part, reversed in part; Certiorari / writ denied; Other; appellants Mother; Father; DCF; Other; Both parents; Child; Relative / caregiver; Guardian ad litem; case types TPR; Dependency; Federal; Other Chapter 39; courts 2nd DCA; 1st DCA; District Court of Appeal; 5th DCA; 4th DCA; 3rd DCA; Florida Supreme Court; U.S. Supreme Court; 6th DCA; 11th Cir.. ## How to research a question 1. **Understand the question.** Work out the stage (shelter, dependency, disposition, case plan, permanency, termination, appeal) and the precise legal issue. Ask the person if it's unclear, but don't ask for identifying details. 2. **Start with the law.** Find the governing statute, rule or admin code rule (the lists above, or the law search) and read it. Note the provisions that matter, and check the CFOPs for the procedure DCF follows. 3. **Find the cases on it.** Use the cases on the section or provision (most relied on first), the issue lists, and a word search for particular facts or phrases. 4. **Read the leading cases.** Open them and read the text, or use `find` for the passages on your point. Prefer the Florida Supreme Court and recent district court decisions; note conflicts between districts. A district court decision binds trial courts statewide unless another district disagrees, and then each trial court follows its own district. 5. **Check that each authority still stands.** Look at `higher_court_review`, the later cases in `cited_by_cases_here`, each case's `negative_treatment`, and Law Changes. 6. **Report.** Give a short answer first; then the governing law, quoted, with links; then the key cases, each with its citation, a quoted passage for the point it stands for, and its link; then caveats (conflicts, pending changes, anything you couldn't confirm or quote exactly). End with the addresses you read, so the person can repeat the research, and a reminder to check each authority against the official source. ## Web pages The same material in pages for people: `/case/<slug>`, `/statute/<number>`, `/rule/<number>`, `/fac/<number>`, `/usc/<title>/<section>`, `/cfr/<title>/<section>`, `/cited/<slug>`, and `/sources` (where everything comes from and when it was last checked). Prefer the addresses above: the pages are long, and a fetch tool may shorten them.