J.H., the mother, Appellant, v. DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES (2020)

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District.

J.H., the mother, Appellant, v. DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES, Appellee.

No. 4D19-2507

Decided: February 05, 2020

Roger Ally of Law Offices of Roger Ally, P.A., Fort Lauderdale, for appellant. Ashley Moody, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Carolyn Schwarz, Assistant Attorney General, Children's Legal Services, Fort Lauderdale, for appellee. Thomasina F. Moore, Statewide Director of Appeals, and Laura J. Lee, Senior Attorney, Appellate Division, Statewide Guardian Ad Litem Office, Tallahassee, for Guardian Ad Litem.

The final order on appeal granted two fathers' motions to terminate protective supervision, denied the Department's motion to adjudicate the children dependent, terminated protective supervision, and terminated jurisdiction. Nonetheless, the order required the mother to complete additional case plan tasks. We agree with the Department's concession that this case is controlled by N.A. v. Dep't of Children & Families, 267 So. 3d 430, 434 (Fla. 4th DCA 2019), because the court “lacked statutory authority to both terminate jurisdiction and order the mother to complete a case plan.” We reverse that portion of the order involving the mother and a case plan and remand to the circuit court to enter a new order, based on the evidence in the record, that is consistent with the best interest of the children.

Per Curiam.

Gross, Damoorgian and Klingensmith, JJ., concur.

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