Foster mom wins another round in fight with DCF

The agency has tried to remove a boy from the woman's custody, saying her low income may affect her ability to care for him.

©Associated Press
September 24, 2002

MIAMI -- A foster mother won another court battle Monday in her quest to continue caring for a 3-year-old boy who has been with her since he was a newborn.

A state appeals court ruled that Geraldine Scott should be allowed to keep the boy, upholding a juvenile court's ruling from last year. Florida's Department of Children and Families has sought to remove the boy from Scott's custody because it questions her ability to financially support the child.

"I'm as happy as I can be," said one of Scott's attorneys, Marc Douthit. "This court seems to have affirmed the lower court's position that the child is appropriately placed with her."

The child, identified in court documents only as "J.C.," was born cocaine-exposed in November 1998 and placed in DCF custody. Scott won custody one month later, after coming forward because she was a friend of J.C.'s father.

The father's parental rights were terminated in 1999, and the mother's rights were terminated in 2000. Scott and the boy moved to Virginia in November 2000 with DCF approval, but officials there declined to accept adoptive placement because of financial concerns.

Scott returned to Florida for a vacation in August 2001. DCF officials then removed the child from her custody but had to return the boy to Scott after the juvenile court's ruling later that month.

Court documents filed in that case showed that Scott's income was $634 a month in Social Security benefits, and her status had not changed since being awarded custody of the boy in 1998. The juvenile court ruling questioned why DCF, if it was unhappy with the care the boy was receiving, gave the woman satisfactory status reports and authorized her move to Virginia.

In the appeals ruling, Judge David Gersten expressed displeasure that DCF tried "to circumvent established appellate rules" by petitioning again to have the boy removed from Scott's home.

"This court will not condone an attempt to frustrate the trial court's exercise of its . . . authority to protect a young child from being taken away from the only parent he has ever known," Gersten wrote.

DCF's attorney handling the case, Linda Ann Wells, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Douthit said he does not expect the legal fight over the boy to end with the appeals ruling.

"In the short term, the placement with the Scotts seems to be safe," Douthit said. "The child is where he's supposed to be."

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