Florida/Georgia Personal Injury & Workers Compensation

...Upon rehearing, the trial court found that the child had been legally abandoned and neglected and was therefore dependent within the meaning of Chapter 39, Florida Statutes, and should be committed to HRS. The trial court then heard testimony on the issue of whether the child should be placed under the authority of section 944.24, Florida Statutes (1979), with the appellant, the appellant's mother, or a foster home....

...s of the child to allow it to remain in the prison environment, and that the child should be placed with its grandmother and its brothers and sisters. An order was entered to that effect, and it is this order that the appellant brings to this court. Section 944.24, Florida Statutes (1979), provides: (1) All regularly employed assistants, officers and employees whose duties *1270 bring them into contact with the inmates of the institution shall be women as far as practicable....

...tional Institution in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She alleged that she was pregnant and would shortly give birth to a child. She sought an injunction against the Florida Department of Corrections and the local prison officials based on Florida Statute Section 944.24 (1977). Plaintiff seeks to keep her new-born child with her in the prison for the first eighteen months of the child's life. Florida Statute Section 944.24 (1977) provides as follows: Administration of corrections institutions for women....

...imate welfare or best interest of the child which must prevail. Although evidence was presented regarding the welfare of the child, the trial court made no finding in this regard. Indeed, the effect of the trial court's order and its construction of Section 944.24, Florida Statutes (1977), was to give the plaintiff more rights than are possessed by a normal (not incarcerated) citizen of this State....

...n unborn child. The complaint alleged that the birth of the child was expected in early March and the order in question was entered on March 2, 1979. The court erred in failing to appoint a guardian ad litem for the child. In conclusion we hold that Section 944.24, Florida Statutes (1977), does not give to the mother of a child born in prison an absolute right to determine where the child will be for the first eighteen months of its life....

...and the charge for hospital and medical care shall be charged against the funds allocated to the detention facility. The county shall provide for the care of any child so born and shall pay for the child’s care until the child is suitably placed outside the prison system.”); § 944.24(6), Fla....

FRANK D. UPCHURCH, Jr., Judge. Appellant, an inmate at the Florida Correctional Institution in Lowell, Florida, appeals from an order which denied her petition pursuant to section 944.24(2), Florida Statutes (1979), for custody of her then unborn child....