In Interest of K.C.C., K.M.C., and K.J.C.
750 So. 2d 38 (1999)


Procedural:Appellants mother and father appealed a decision of the Circuit Court for Polk County (Florida) terminating their parental rights for failing to comply with the case plan established with appellee Department of Children and Family Services.

Facts The Department of Children and Families (P) brought a petition for dependency alleging the parents (Ds) of three children were unable to properly care for them because of the mother's substance abuse problem and the father's mental health problems. Ds did not contest the dependency finding. The court entered its dependency order. Ds entered a case plan. P filed a petition to terminate the parental rights of Ds because they had breached the requirements of the case plan. The court terminated Ds' parental rights. Ds appeal.


Issue: May parental rights be terminated based solely on financial conditions?

Holding: No. Judgment reversed in part, affirmed in part, and remanded.
After children were adjudicated dependent, state filed petition to terminate parental interests. The Circuit Court, granted petition, and parents appealed. The District Court of Appeals held that:
(1) father's parental rights were improperly terminated;
(2) mother's rights were properly terminated; and
(3) evidence was insufficient to establish that termination of parental rights was in children's best interest.


Analysis:The court found that the unrebutted testimony of appellant father showed that his failure to comply was based, at least in part, on the family's financial conditions and that he had since qualified for disability benefits and made arrangements for suitable housing. Thus, there was insufficient evidence to support termination of his parental rights. As to appellant mother, the evidence at the termination hearing indicated she still had an admitted drug problem and she had failed to seek treatment. Thus, the trial court properly terminated her parental rights.
One ground for termination of parental rights in Florida is that after an adjudication of dependency and the filing of a case plan, the parents fail to substantially comply with the case plan for a period of 12 months unless the failure was due either to a lack of financial resources of the parents or a failure of the state to make reasonable efforts to reunify the family.