Children’s Issues Committee Agenda

Thursday January 28, 2016

Hilton Bonnet Creek Hotel, Orlando, Florida

I.  Welcome and Introductions

  1. Call to Order 9:10 a.m.
  2. Attendance: Rusty Meade, Trish Armstrong, Amy Cosentino, Taryn Sinatra, Heather Stohlman, Beth Luna, Sonica Cinami, Magistrate John Johnson Magistrate Barbara Gorian, Michelle Klinger, Angel Bello-Billini, John Foster, Jacqueline Brown, Daphne Shaw, Karim Batista, Jessi Pullitzer, Tenisia Hall, Stephanie Hatalon, Andrea Reid, Nancy Brodzki, Susan Keith, Kim Rommel Enright, Steve Berzner, Ellen Silver, Holly Rice, Amy Hickman, Ron Bornstein, Sue Selsky, Yvonne Alonso, Stefanie Grife, Sheena Benjamin-Wise, Sonja Jean.

II.  Review and Approval of Minutes

  1. Kim Rommel Enright Motion to Accept; Second Nancy Brodzki

III.  Reports of Subcommittee and Ad Hoc Committee

  1. Review of Ad Hoc Parentage Committee Chapter 63.032: Report by Sonica Cinami: Amy Hickman and Rusty Meade and Sonica have worked on the dual parentage portion of the statute. In this political climate this may take a back seat to alimony but the plan is to move forward and have the nomenclature committee review the Work.

Amy Hickman: Nomenclature 63.742 and Nomenclature, the committee, is asked to present to children’s issues, changes concept of affidavit of paternity to denial of non-parentage. This is a pressing issue in the state of Florida, children are being harmed because our statute is not gender neutral, need a gender neutral interpretation of the statute. The committee is asked to seriously consider this proposal.

Magistrate Johnson: What is the genesis of the affidavit of non-paternity.

Amy Hickman: A pregnant woman is not similarly situated to another woman who would be consenting. Parental Waiver statute allows everyone, except the pregnant woman, to execute that waiver pre birth.

Motion to Approve entire Statute as presented by Amy Hickman:

63.062(1)(a)

Tenesia Hall: does this include the surrogate? Amy Hickman: Gestation surrogate in in definition of parent. We can put birth mother, who is a parent, and that could address the issue. Birth mother is added because the child may have two mothers - the birth mother and the biological mother. Want to look at it again. Perhaps birth mother needs to be defined. Committee will look at it again and decide to gender neutralize it because there was an uneven application to same sex couples who were family planning. There is no danger to defining that term and making that clarification. Approved with modification that we will add definition of birth parent.

63.032(12): No comments; Motion to Approve by Sonja Jean; 2nd Nancy Brodzki

63.039(1) and (3): No Comments; Nancy Brodsky Motion to Approve; 2nd Karim Batista

63.042: Unanimous Approval of the Gender Neutral Language proposed by Ad Hoc Parentage Committee. It will now go back to legislation.

  1. Guardian ad Litem: Beth Luna: The issue we were going to address in the statute is being addressed by the public interest group. There is a concern about the amount of support there is for guardians, once there are certified.

Tenesia Hall: On legal needs of Children’s Committee there is still problems ensuring that the AALs are trained and working the cases.

If anybody wants to help with this sub-committee, please contact Beth and sign up.

  1. GAL Hearsay: Motion to Sunset this committee by Andrea Reid, Second Amy Cosentino. This committee was originally intended to support and previously talked about creating uniformity in education. We talked about putting in the statute that GAL be trained. Perhaps making a qualification process. The GAL hearsay is what we are talking about Sun-setting. The committee was set up to determine if each jurisdiction should have an exception to the hearsay.

Sonica: we need a uniform standard. Tenesia Hall: we need a statutory change or a rule to make this change. We need an article for one of the publications to write about do we need a rule change for the GAL statute and the hearsay issue. Sonja will reach out to Anastasia Garcia to see if she will write an article. Committee will not be sunset at this time, we will have the committee approach publications to consider if it is viable.

Pause in discussion for Chair Maria Gonzalez to introduce herself and the Leadership, who were not present, to the members of the committee.

  1. High Conflict Sub Committee: How do we support family attorneys who are consistently engaged in conflict? Question posed to committee for insight into topics for the CLE:
  2. Right of First Refusal - In parenting plans: Are step-parents child care providers; what is a child care provider – Definition of Child Care Providers within Parenting Plan.
  3. Tenesia Hall: Parenting Plan doesn’t consider the relationship of the parties also when prose litigants are doing it, they are doing it as a snap shot of the child at that age, doesn’t account for child aging ahead.
  4. Cindy Vova: Relocation within 50 miles when there is an equal timesharing schedule.
  5. Karim Batista: Communications provision, with the minor child, speaker length etc. Example, nothing making the child charge the phone.
  6. Rusty Meade: Do I have a responsibility to reconnect the Skype?

Halloween, who gets the child? Who purchases the costume? What time is return for child, etc.? Who is responsible for providing dinner etc.?

Temp relief on timesharing schedule:

Judge Parenting plan is designed to be a vanilla document, terms of the plan were pulled from parenting plans all over the country, they strove to balance a parenting plan that covered the main issues, but gave flexibility for those details. A 27-page plan is not going to be used, it was developed to be a developed form to be used supplemented and expanded.

Travel, domestic and foreign, booking flights etc.

Taryn Sinatra: No Disparagement of the other parents, not talking to child about inappropriate things. How do you enforce or prove it?

MEETING SUSPENDED

Issues at Hotel

Adjourned until further notice

Respectfully summited by

ANDREA REID