FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND REHABILITATIVE SERVICES ON BEHALF OF CATHERINE POWELL, APPELLANT,
v.
ALTHEA POWELL, APPELLEE
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The Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services sought child support on behalf of three minor children whose mother was absent from the home and whose maternal grandmother had taken consensual custody. The trial court denied the petition, finding the children were not dependent under state law and the grandmother could not seek support. The appellate court reversed, holding that the children were dependent under the relevant statute and that the grandmother was a proper party to pursue support.
The children are dependent children under Section 409.2554(2) because the mother is absent from the home. A declaration of dependency under Chapter 39 is not a prerequisite to seeking support under Chapter 409. The grandmother, as a consensual custodian and proper legal representative ("next friend") of the children, is entitled to seek assistance from the Department in enforcing child support.
[1] A child is considered dependent for purposes of child support under Chapter 409, Florida Statutes, if deprived of parental support or care due to a parent's continued abs…
[2] A maternal grandmother entrusted with the consensual custody of minor children may act as a next friend to seek child support on their behalf.
Previewing 2 of 4 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“any person under the age of 18, or under the age of 21 and still in school, who has been deprived of parental support or care by reason of death, continued absence from the home, or physical or mental incapacity of a parent”
Definition of dependent child under Section 409.2554(2) that the court applied to these children whose mother was absent from the home
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAlthea Powell's three minor children were placed in the care of their maternal grandmother, Catherine Powell, after the mother became absent from the …
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HALL, Judge.
Pursuant to chapter 409, Florida Statutes, appellant, Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services on behalf of Catherine Powell, filed a petition seeking child support for her grandchildren from their mother, Althea Powell, appellee. Catherine Powell is the maternal grandmother of the three minor children and had been entrusted with their care by appellee, their mother. Catherine Powell had agreed to care for the children until such time as appellee was able to care for the children, with the understanding that appellee would ultimately provide a permanent residence for the children. Appellee failed to file any pleadings in response to the petition, and as a result thereof, a default was duly entered. At final hearing the trial court entered an order denying the petition for child support finding that “the minor children have never been declared dependent pursuant to the definition of Chapter 39 of Florida Statutes,” and that the petition does not fall within the preview of chapter 409, Florida Statutes.
Appellant contends that the children are dependent children within the meaning of chapter 409, Florida Statutes, and that the grandmother is the proper party entitled to seek the assistance of the Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services in bringing an action for support of the children under chapter 409, Florida Statutes.
We agree. Section 409.2554(2), Florida Statutes, defines a dependent child as “any person under the age of 18, or under the age of 21 and still in school, who has been deprived of parental support or care by reason of death, continued absence from the home, or physical or mental incapacity of a parent.” The record reflects that the mother is absent from the home. We therefore hold that the children are dependent children as defined under section 409.-2554(2), Florida Statutes, and that any declaration of dependency by a court under chapter 39, Florida Statutes, is not a necessary prerequisite to a support order under chapter 409, Florida Statutes.
In the case of Cronebaugh v. Van Dyke, 415 So. 2d 738, 741 (Fla. 5th DCA 1982), the court held that “[wjhile it is under the disability of minority, the child’s right to support must be enforced by a legal representative, such as a guardian or other like fiduciary, a guardian ad litem or a next friend.... ” Since the children were voluntarily placed with the grandmother and she has consensual custody of the children, she is a proper party entitled to seek assistance of the Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services in bringing an action for support of the children under chapter 409, Florida Statutes.
According to section 409.245, the Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services shall assist applicants in bringing proceedings to enforce support against such persons who are liable for support under the laws of Florida. We must certainly consider the grandmother in this case as at least “a next friend" entitled to seek aid for dependent children and entitled to assistance from the Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services in bringing the proceeding to enforce support.
Reversed and remanded with directions to the trial court to determine the amount of support to which the children are entitled and order appellee to pay such support.
SCHEB, A.C.J., and FRANK, J., concur.
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D.H. and L.H. v. Adept Cmty. Servs., Inc., 217 So. 3d 1072 (Fla. 2d DCA 2017)…integrity or the conformity of the grandparents’ own interests with those of the twins. On this record, then, the grandparents had the authority to sue as the twins’ next friends as of April 2006. Cf. Fla. Dep’t of Health & Rehab. Servs. v. Powell, 490 So. 2d 1043, 1044 (Fla. 2d DCA 1986) (holding that grandmother was entitled to petition for support for minor because “[w]e must certainly consider the grandmother in this case as at least ’a next friend’ “). Relying on the First District’s decision in S.A.P.,…
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R.M. v. Dep't of Child. & Families, 877 So. 2d 797 (Fla. 5th DCA 2004)…e due process violation for the State to require the parent, whose acts or omissions have necessitated State action, to financially provide for his or her child is without merit. Indeed, in Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services v. Powell, 490 So. 2d 1043 (Fla. 2d DCA 1986), the Second District held that a finding of dependency by a court under Chapter 39 is not a necessary prerequisite to entry of a child support order at least in an action brought pursuant to Chapter 409, Florida Statutes. More im…
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