Supreme Court of Florida ____________ No. SC21-1681 ____________ IN RE: AMENDMENTS TO THE FLORIDA RULES OF JUVENILE PROCEDURE—2021 FAST-TRACK REPORT. February 3, 2022 PER CURIAM. This matter is before the Court for consideration of proposed amendments to the Florida Rules of Juvenile Procedure. See Fla. R. Gen. Prac. & Jud. Admin. 2.140(e). We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 2(a), Fla. Const. The Florida Bar’s Juvenile Court Rules Committee (Committee) has filed a fast-track report proposing (1) amendments to Florida Rules of Juvenile Procedure 8.217 (Attorney Ad Litem), 8.305 (Shelter Petition, Hearing, and Order), 8.345 (Post-Disposition Relief), and 8.415 (Judicial Review of Dependency Cases); (2) a new rule 8.540 (Motion to Reinstate Parental Rights); (3) a new form 8.973A (Order on Judicial Review for Child Age 16); and (4) an amendment to current form 8.973A and its redesignation as form 8.973B (Order on Judicial Review for Child Age 17 or Older). The Florida Bar’s Board of Governors unanimously approved the Committee’s proposals. The Committee did not publish the proposals before filing them with the Court. Having considered the proposed amendments and relevant legislation, we hereby adopt the amendments as proposed, with one minor modification for amending the form 8.973 orders. The more significant amendments are discussed below. First, rule 8.217 is amended to conform with recent legislative changes to section 39.522(3)(c), Florida Statutes (2021), which now requires an attorney for the child (rather than an attorney ad litem) to be appointed when a caregiver provides notice of objection to a change in the child’s physical custody placement. Thus, “Attorney for the Child” is added to the title of the rule, a sentence is added to subdivision (b) (Appointment), explaining that the court must appoint an attorney for a child who is the subject of a motion to modify custody, and the phrase “an attorney ad litem” is now replaced with the phrase “any attorney appointed under this rule.” Additionally, a comment is added to the rule explaining that these -2- changes were made in response to the statutory changes. Each rule change discussed herein includes such a comment. Rule 8.305 (Shelter Petition, Hearing, and Order) is amended to conform with the newly enacted section 39.4021, Florida Statutes (2021), which articulates a prioritization for out-of-home placements, including fictive kin and nonrelatives. Accordingly, the phrase “fictive kin, or nonrelatives” is added throughout the rule. In addition, a new subdivision (c)(3) is created stating that an order granting shelter care must include a finding on reasonable efforts to place the child in accordance with the prioritization hierarchy articulated in section 39.4021 or explain why priority placement is not available or is not in the child’s best interest. The subsequent subdivisions have therefore been renumbered, and renumbered subdivision (c)(5) now states that when sibling visitation or interaction is not ordered, the shelter order must explain why visitation or interaction is contrary to the safety or well-being of the child and must direct the department to immediately provide services that would reasonably be expected to …
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