Dependency Law Finder

Florida's dependency statutes, court rules and DCF operating procedures, with the appellate opinions that apply them

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J.R. v. Department of Children & Families3D23-0186

Court
3rd DCA
Decided
2023-06-07
Case
Dependency
Appellant
Father
County
Miami-Dade

Affirmed Adjudication of dependency affirmed under the deferential standard because competent substantial evidence supported the trial court's findings.

Issue
Dependency adjudication: sufficiency of evidence
Law cited
Rule 8.330(a)

Summary, issues, facts, outcome, and appellant were extracted automatically from the opinion. Check the opinion itself before relying on them.

Court's PDF On CourtListener
       Third District Court of Appeal
                               State of Florida

                          Opinion filed June 7, 2023.
       Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.
                             ________________

                              No. 3D23-186
                       Lower Tribunal No. 21-15598
                          ________________

                            J.R., the Father,
                                  Appellant,

                                     vs.

           Department of Children and Families, et al.,
                                 Appellees.


      An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Denise Martinez-Scanziani, Judge.

      Law Office of David Scott, P.A., and David M. Scott (Fort Lauderdale), for appellant.

      Karla Perkins, for appellee Department of Children & Families; Sara Elizabeth Goldfarb, Statewide Director of Appeals, and Laura J. Lee, Assistant Director of Appeals (Tallahassee), for appellee Guardian ad Litem.


Before LOGUE, HENDON and GORDO, JJ.

     PER CURIAM.
      Affirmed. See In re M.F., 
770 So. 2d 1189, 1192
 (Fla. 2000) (“In a dependency proceeding, DCF must establish its allegations by ‘a preponderance of the evidence.’”) (quoting Fla. R. Juv. P. 8.330(a)); Y.P. v. Dep’t of Child. & Fam. Servs., 
939 So. 2d 1118
, 1119–20 (Fla. 3d DCA 2006) (“We review an adjudication of dependency for an abuse of discretion, and will uphold the determination if the trial court applied the correct law and its ruling is supported by competent, substantial evidence. Weighing the evidence is the province of the trial court, M.R. v. Dep’t of Child. & Fam. Servs., 
783 So. 2d 277, 278
 (Fla. 3d DCA 2001), and this Court will not disturb the trial court’s credibility findings.”) (internal citations omitted); F.R. v. Dep’t of Child. & Families, 
826 So. 2d 449, 450
 (Fla. 5th DCA 2002) (“In the event the evidence is conflicting or turns on credibility of the witnesses, all credence and presumption of correctness must be given to the trial court.”); G.V. v. Dep’t of Child. & Families, 
795 So. 2d 1043, 1048
 (Fla. 3d DCA 2001) (“The record before us shows substantial competent evidence in support of the trial court’s findings. The evidence establishes that [the child] lived in a tense environment, where he suffered physical injury consistent with child abuse.”). 

Opinion text: CourtListener, Free Law Project. Not an official reporter; check the court's version before citing.