99-003962 Department Of Children And Family Services vs. Marie Burrows Status: Closed Recommended Order on Friday, March 10, 2000.

Summary: Foster parent left foster children with Department without providing two weeks` notice. Children were dirty, unkempt, and hungry. License should be revoked.

STATE OF FLORIDA

DIVISION OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS

DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND )

FAMILY SERVICES, )

)

Petitioner, )

)

vs. ) Case No. 99-3962

)

MARIE BURROWS, )

)

Respondent. )

__________________________________)

RECOMMENDED ORDER

Pursuant to notice, a formal hearing was held in this case

on January 13, 1999, at Miami, Florida, before Susan B. Kirkland,

a designated Administrative Law Judge of the Division of

Administrative Hearings.

APPEARANCES

For Petitioner: Rosemarie Rinaldi, Esquire

Department of Children and Families

401 Northwest 2nd Avenue, Suite N-104

Miami, Florida 33128

For Respondent: Marie Burrows, pro se

409 Northwest 48th Street

Miami, Florida 33127

STATEMENT OF THE ISSUE

Whether Petitioner should revoke the foster home license of

Respondent.

PRELIMINARY STATEMENT

By letter dated April 21, 1998, Petitioner, Department of

Children and Family Services (Department) notified Respondent,

Marie Burrows (Burrows), that it was revoking her foster care

license immediately for violation of the Bilateral Service

Agreement. Burrows requested a formal administrative hearing,

and the case was forwarded to the Division of Administrative

Hearings on September 22, 1999, for assignment to an

administrative law judge.

The final hearing was originally set for December 28, 1999.

On December 20, 1999, Petitioner filed an unopposed motion for

continuance, which was granted by order dated December 22, 1999.

The final hearing was rescheduled for January 13, 2000.

At the final hearing, Petitioner called the following

witnesses: Maria Arroyo, Evelio Torres, Lisa Fowler,

Reinaldo Gonzalez, Tara Smith, and Gloria Ocasio. Petitioner's

Exhibits 1-3 were admitted in evidence. At the final hearing,

Respondent testified in her own behalf and called Mary Reardon

and N. M. as witnesses. Respondent presented no exhibits.

The parties agreed to file proposed recommended orders

within ten days of the filing of the transcript. On February 10,

2000, the T ranscript was filed. Petitioner filed its P roposed

R ecommended O rder on February 21, 2000. Respondent did not file

a proposed recommended order. Petitioner's P roposed R ecommended

O rder has been considered in rendering this Recommended Order.

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. Respondent, Marie Burrows (Burrows) was a licensed

foster parent for approximately twelve to fourteen years. During

the course of relicensing her home, Burrows signed a Bilateral

Service Agreement on May 13, 1997. Burrows agreed to the

following:

We may request the Department to remove a

child from our home, but will, whenever

possible, give the Department at least two

week's notice.

* * *

We will comply with all requirements for a

licensed foster home as prescribed by the

Department.

* * *

We understand that any breach of the

Agreement may result in the immediate removal

of the child(ren) and revocation of the

license.

2. On April 1, 1998, a sibling group of four elementary-

aged children were placed in Burrows' foster care. Maria Arroyo,

the Department case worker for the children, accompanied the

children from their prior foster home in Fort Pierce, Florida, to

Burrows' home. Ms. Arroyo gave Burrows a bag of clothing and a

bag of shoes for each child along with a large number of toys.

She also gave Burrows the children's glasses, Medicaid cards,

Social Security cards, and prescription medications.

3. One of the children was taking Prozac, another was

taking Ritalin, and two were taking Mellaril. Ms. Arroyo gave

the prescription bottles to Burrows and explained to her when the

children needed to take their medications. Ms. Arroyo also gave

Burrows her telephone and beeper numbers.

4. The children were hyperactive, and Burrows had trouble

controlling their behavior. The children destroyed a swing set

in Burrows' yard, broke a fan in their room, and damaged vertical

blinds in their room. Burrows called the Department's placement

unit several times and asked to have the children removed from

her home. She did not get a response from the Department.

5. On a previous occasion in 1997, Burrows had returned a

child to the Department without giving the Department two weeks'

notice to arrange for an alternate placement for the child. She

was advised orally and in writing by Reinaldo Gonzalez, one of

the Department's licensing counselors, that she should have given

the Department two weeks' notice unless it was an emergency in

which the child was a danger to himself or others.

6. On April 10, 1998, Burrows told her backup caretaker,

Mary Reardon, to take the four siblings to the Department for

placement with another foster home. She did not advise the

Department that Ms. Reardon was bringing the children.

7. Apparently Ms. Reardon was not sure exactly where the

children should be left. She went to the building where the

Department was located and left the children with the licensing

section. The children were dirty and were wearing no shoes, with

the exception of one child who had on one shoe. The children's

clothes were dirty and their hair was unkempt. They had their

belongings in garbage bags that contained mismatched shoes, empty

prescription medication bottles, wet clothing, and some adult

clothing. The children were hungry, and the prescriptions for

their medications had not been refilled.

8. Prior to Burrows leaving the children unannounced at the

licensing section, staff in the placement section had been

seeking an alternate placement for the children. Within an hour

after the children were left, placement with another foster home

had been finalized.

9. The evidence did not show that an emergency existed or

that the children were a danger to themselves or others.

CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

10. The Division of Administrative Hearings has

jurisdiction over the parties to and the subject matter of this

proceeding. Section 120.57(1), Florida Statutes.

11. Section 409.175, Florida Statutes, provides for the

licensing of foster homes. Subsection 409.175(2)(f), Florida

Statutes, states:

A license under this section is issued to a

family foster home or other facility and is

not a professional license of any individual.

Receipt of a license under this section shall

not create a property right in the recipient.

A license under this act is a public trust

and a privilege, and is not an entitlement.

This privilege must guide the finder of fact

or trier of law at any administrative hearing

or court action initiated by the department.

12. The Department has adopted rules, which set forth the

minimum standards by which foster parents must be evaluated.

Rule 65C-13.010, Florida Administrative Code, identifies the

foster parent's role and provides:

(1) Responsibilities of the Substitute

Parent to the Child.

(a) General.

1. To give love, acceptance, and care

to a child without expecting a demonstration

of appreciation from the child.

2. To provide the child with

opportunities for normal growth and

development.

3. To make a commitment to keep the

child for a planned period of time.

4. To assist in preparing the child for

return to the parents or permanent placement.

(b) Family Care Activities.

1. Daily living tasks.

a. The substitute care parents are

expected to provide structure and daily

activities designed to promote the individual

physical, social, intellectual, spiritual,

and emotional development of children in

their home.

b. The substitute parents should assist

the children in performing tasks and

developing skills which will promote their

independence and the ability to care for

themselves.

c. The substitute care parents are

expected to help children in their care to

maintain a sense of their past and a record

of their present.

d. The substitute care parents should

ask children in their care to assume

household chores reasonable for their age and

ability not to exceed those expected of their

own children.

2. Food and Nutrition.

a. The substitute care parents must

provide nutritionally balanced and age

appropriate snacks.

b. The substitute care parents are

expected to provide for any special dietary

needs of foster children placed in their

home.

3. Clothing and Personal Belongings.

a. All children should be provided with

their own clean, well-fitting, attractive

clothing appropriate to their age, sex, and

individual needs, in keeping with community

standards and appropriate to the season.

b. Each child must be provided his own

towel, washcloth, and toiletry items such as

toothbrush, comb, and hairbrush.

c. All children must be allowed to

bring, retain and acquire personal belongings

while in care. Substitute parents must help

each child protect and preserve possessions

which are important to the child.

d. When the child leaves the family

home, the substitute care parents must send

along with him all serviceable clothing and

personal belongings bought for, earned, or

given to the child. This includes toys,

bicycles, radios, or other things that are

the child's personal belongings.

* * *

m. The substitute must not threaten a

child with removal or with a report to

authorities as punishment for behavior.

Threatening the child with removal plays into

the child's conviction that they are doomed

to a series of placements and rejections.

The counselor's first task is to identify the

child's specific behaviors which are causing

the substitute parent to request the child's

removal. Once the problems are identified

the counselor along with the substitute

parents and child assess ways to correct the

problem. If problems are not corrected and

the substitute family continues to request

removal, a conference should be held by the

counselor with the substitute family and

child to discuss the possibility of removal

and replacement. Involving the child in the

planning may help him feel he has some

control over his life.

* * *

7. Medicine.

a. The substitute care parents must be

responsible for dispensing the medication as

prescribed by the physician and recording the

exact amount of any medication prescribed for

a child by a physician or dentist.

b. The substitute care parents must

inform the department within one working day

of any drugs prescribed for the child.

c. The substitute care parents must

inform the department immediately of any

prescription drugs taken by a child which

were not prescribed for him and must secure

emergency medical care if this indicated.

d. All medication must be stored in a

safe place which is not accessible to the

children.

13. The Department has established that Burrows violated

the Bilateral Service Agreement by returning the children without

two weeks' notice when no emergency existed which would require

the immediate removal of the children from Burrows' home.

14. Section 409.175(8), Florida Statutes, provides that the

Department may revoke a foster home license if there is a

violation of the Department's rules. Burrows' failed to provide

clean clothing and shoes for the children. Burrows failed to

send all the children's possessions with them when the children

were left with the Department. When the children were returned

to the Department, they were dirty and unkempt. The children's

medications had not be refilled.

RECOMMENDATION

Based on the foregoing Findings of Fact and Conclusions of

Law, it is RECOMMENDED that a final order be entering revoking

the foster home license for Marie Burrows.

DONE AND ENTERED this 10th day of March, 2000, in

Tallahassee, Leon County, Florida.

___________________________________

SUSAN B. KIRKLAND

Administrative Law Judge

Division of Administrative Hearings

The DeSoto Building

1230 Apalachee Parkway

Tallahassee, Florida 32399-3060

[phone] SUNCOM 278-9675

Fax Filing [phone]

www.doah.state.fl.us

Filed with the Clerk of the

Division of Administrative Hearings

this 10th day of March, 2000.

COPIES FURNISHED:

Samuel C. Chavers, Acting Agency Clerk

Department of Children and Family Services

Building 2, Room 204B

1317 Winewood Boulevard

Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0700

John S. Slye, General Counsel

Department of Children and Family Services

Building 2, Room 204B

1317 Winewood Boulevard

Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0700

Rosemarie Rinaldi, Esquire

Department of Children and Families

401 Northwest 2nd Avenue, Suite N-104

Miami, Florida 33128

Marie Burrows

409 Northwest 48th Street

Miami, Florida 33127

NOTICE OF RIGHT TO SUBMIT EXCEPTIONS

All parties have the right to submit written exceptions within 15

days from the date of this Recommended Order. Any exceptions to

this Recommended Order should be filed with the agency that will

issue the Final Order in this case.