CopyCited 22 times | Published | Florida 4th District Court of Appeal | 1996 WL 165019
...hat "it is unlawful for any person except [HRS], an agency, or any intermediary to place or attempt to place within the state, the child for adoption unless the child is placed with a relative within the third degree or with a step-parent." See also § 63.207, Fla.Stat....
CopyCited 1 times | Published | District Court, N.D. Florida | 55 U.S.L.W. 2511, 1986 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16013
...At least one Florida court has also implicitly recognized that home studies are not a part of placement as defined by Section
63.032(9). In HRS v. Castagnino,
429 So.2d 102 (Fla. 2 DCA 1983), HRS argued that a Massachusetts couple could not adopt a child in Florida because such an adoption would violate Section
63.207, which prohibits out of state placement. The court rejected that argument by concluding that the placement would occur in Florida, and therefore, did not violate Section
63.207....
...TRAVEL BY PREGNANT WOMEN. HRS argues that Florida law prohibits pregnant women in Florida from travelling to Georgia to obtain medical services, give birth and place their children for adoption with an agency licensed in that state. HRS relies on Fla.Stat. § 63.207(1)(a) in support of its position....
...The court is unwilling to accept the interpretation of "child" that is urged by the department when the definition adopted by the legislature is clearly to the contrary. Having rejected the interpretation urged by HRS, the court must also conclude that Section 63.207(1) does not prohibit a pregnant woman from leaving the state, giving birth and placing her child for adoption out of state. SURRENDERING CHILDREN FOR ADOPTION OUT OF STATE. HRS next urges that Florida law prohibits Florida residents from taking a child out of the state for the purpose of placing the child for adoption. HRS relies on Section 63.207(1) in support of this claim....
...That section provides: Unless the child is to be placed with a relative within the third degree or with a stepparent, no person except an agency or the Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services shall: (a) Take or send a child out of the state for the purpose of placement for adoption. Fla Sta. § 63.207(1)....
...Fla.Stat. §
63.032(7). However, Section
63.032 also states that the definition need not apply if "the context otherwise requires." *1227 Here the court agrees with Friends that the term agency must be read more broadly than the statutory definition if Section
63.207 is to pass constitutional muster....
...But in Bigelow, the Supreme Court made it clear that, "A State does not acquire power or supervision over the internal affairs of another State merely because the welfare and health of its own citizens may be affected when they travel to that State." Id. at p. 824,
95 S.Ct. at 2234. Accordingly, reading Section
63.207 as urged by HRS would necessarily lead this court to conclude the statute was unconstitutional....
...Although the legislature has generally defined the term "agency" in the Florida Adoption Act as an adoption agency licensed pursuant to Florida Statutes, it has provided for other meanings where the context so requires. Fla.Stat. §
63.032. In the context of Section
63.207, this narrow definition must be rejected in order to preserve the validity and constitutionality of the statute. Therefore, the court agrees with Friends that the term "agency" should be read in Section
63.207 to include any agency duly licensed by the appropriate regulatory authority in the state where placement will occur. Given such an interpretation, the court must also reject HRS's claim that no person may take a child out of the state for the purpose of placing the child for adoption. A child may be taken out of state and placed for adoption under the terms of Section
63.207 as interpreted in this order....
...care and living expenses of the mother of the child to be adopted, nor from paying the actual living and medical expenses of such mother for a reasonable time, not to exceed 30 days after the birth of the child. *1229 Fla.Stat.
63.212(1)(d). Unlike Section
63.207(1)(a), the agency referred to in this section should be read as defined by the legislature; that is, an agency licensed pursuant to Florida Statutes....
