05-001685 Kim And Coby Lantz vs. Department Of Children And Family Services Status: Closed Recommended Order on Friday, October 28, 2005.

Summary: Petitioner Kim Lantz made significant mistatements on Respondent`s foster home application and testimony at hearing; the explanations are not credible. Recommend that Respondent deny the license.

STATE OF FLORIDA

DIVISION OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS

KIM AND COBY LANTZ, )

)

Petitioners, )

)

vs. ) Case No. 05-1685

)

DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND )

FAMILY SERVICES, )

)

Respondent. )

)

RECOMMENDED ORDER

A final hearing was conducted in this case before Daniel M.

Kilbride, Administrative Law Judge of the Division of

Administrative Hearings on July 12, 2005, in Melbourne, Florida.

APPEARANCES

For Petitioners: Kim and Coby Lantz, pro se

6983 Dahlia Drive

Cocoa, Florida 32927

For Respondent: Richard Cato, Esquire

Department of Children and

Family Services

400 West Robinson Street, Suite S-1106

Orlando, Florida 32801-1782

STATEMENT OF THE ISSUE

Whether Petitioners, Kim and Coby Lantz, should be granted a license as a family foster home.

PRELIMINARY STATEMENT

By certified letter dated April 6, 2005, Respondent, the

Department of Children and Family Services, informed

Petitioners, Kim and Coby Lantz, that their application for a

license as a family foster home was being denied. Petitioners

disputed the facts underlying Respondent's decision, and on

April 1, 2005, by letter, timely requested an administrative

hearing. On May 11, 2005, Respondent referred the matter to the

Division of Administrative Hearings (DOAH) for the assignment of

an Administrative Law Judge to conduct the hearing requested by

Petitioners.

Following discovery and a continuance granted at the

request of Respondent, the final hearing was scheduled for and

held on July 12, 2005. At the hearing, official recognition was

taken of Section 409.175, Florida Statutes (2004), and Florida

Administrative Code Chapter 65C-13.

Respondent presented the testimony of Helga M. Mejia,

licensing specialist and former family services counselor with

Respondent's Central Licensing Zone, and Gina Dickerson, former

licensing representative and family service counselor for

Respondent in Brevard County, Florida. Respondent offered four

exhibits which were admitted into evidence.

Petitioners testified on their own behalf at the hearing

and offered no other live witnesses at the hearing. Petitioners

offered two exhibits which were admitted into evidence.

Exhibit 2 consisted of several letters of recommendation and was

offered as a composite exhibit.

The hearing was recorded, and the Transcript was filed with

DOAH on July 26, 2005. The parties were given 15 days in which

to file proposed orders. However, neither of the parties has

filed their proposed recommended orders as of the date of this

Recommended Order.

FINDINGS OF FACT

Based on the testimony and evidence received at the

hearing, the following findings are made:

1. Respondent is the state agency responsible for

licensing and regulating family foster homes.

2. Petitioners are applicants for a family foster home

license.

3. In February 2004, Petitioners initially sought to adopt

a child, but, subsequently, changed the application to provide

foster care for children. As part of the process, Petitioners

attended an orientation conducted by Respondent's family

services counselor and completed a screening questionnaire.

4. As part of the application process, applicants are

required to complete the Model Approach for Parenting (MAP)

training, which includes classes to better prepare prospective

foster and adoptive parents for the placement of children in

their homes. The purpose is to ensure, prior to placement, that

prospective parents work effectively as a team with each other

and with Respondent. It is also important that they know and

understand their rights and obligations that a stable

environment be created for the children.

5. As part of the MAP training and evaluation, prospective

foster parents are required to complete a thorough background

and history form. They are asked to give a complete life

history, including prior relationships, marriages, customs, and

culture. Both Petitioners completed the form.

6. Petitioner Coby Lantz has been very supportive of his

wife's desire to obtain a family foster home license and to

provide care for foster children. He provided sufficient

information in order for Respondent to complete his portion of

the family assessment.

7. Petitioner Coby Lantz completed the MAP training during

this period. Petitioner Kim Lantz was given credit for

completing the MAP training while married to her second husband,

Darrell Palmer.

8. Petitioner Kim Lantz completed the Adult's Personal

Profile (for prospective mothers), consisting of 17 pages, plus

a five-page, hand-written "Life Story." On page five of the

profile, she was specifically asked to complete information on

previous intimate relationships and former marriages.

Petitioner Kim Lantz listed only one former marriage. She

indicated she was married to Darrell Palmer from November 18,

2000, until his death on September 12, 2001. However,

Petitioner Kim Lantz was, in fact, married to Robert D. Haynes

in June 1991, separated two years later, and the final decree of

divorce was entered on October 10, 1995.

9. Petitioner Kim Lantz's explanation of this omission,

while testifying at the hearing, was that she and her first

husband married shortly after college. She stated, "[i]t was a

high school sweetheart thing . . . he was not abusive to me. He

did drink. We just grew apart. We divorced. That was it. It

was like a guy I dated. He's not really anything to comment

about. I moved on . . . ."

10. These responses, along with other parts of her

testimony, indicate that Petitioner Kim Lantz tends to suppress

unpleasant memories from her past and to not deal with them

effectively.

11. Also, Petitioner Kim Lantz has not given a credible

explanation of her complete omission of any reference to Haynes

in her profile or "Life Story." In addition, it was only with

excessive prodding that Petitioner produced a Certificate of

Divorce from Haynes.

12. These omissions and vague explanations have prevented

Respondent from completing a thorough family assessment as

required by Florida law.

13. Petitioner Kim Lantz's second marriage to Darrell

Palmer ended tragically on November 12, 2001. She was present

with her husband in their apartment when local law enforcement

came to their door. The law enforcement officers were seeking

to determine the origin of bomb threats made to a local

Dillard's department store. Apparently, they wanted to

interview her, who was employed there at the time, and Palmer, a

former employee. When Palmer, who was preparing a meal in the

kitchen, opened the door with a kitchen knife in his hands, he

was shot and killed by law enforcement.

14. Petitioner was emotionally devastated by this event.

At her parents urging, she returned to their home in upstate New

York, where she received love and support from her family and

her church.

15. Petitioner Kim Lantz testified that she was diagnosed

with post-traumatic stress disorder and received mental health

counseling for two years and, also, received medication for this

condition. However, Petitioners have provided only sketchy

information concerning her current mental health status.

16. While still in New York, Petitioners met at a church

function, dated, and married and eventually moved to Cocoa,

Florida.

17. During the course of Respondent's family assessment,

it was determined, in late March 2005, that Petitioner Kim Lantz

was terminated at her place of employment, a daycare facility,

on February 28, 2005. She failed to report this event and

attempted to withhold this fact from Respondent. Her

explanation to Respondent's investigator and her testimony at

the hearing is not credible and amounts to a willful or

intentional misstatement.

CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

18. The Division of Administrative Hearings has

jurisdiction over the parties to and the subject matter to this

case pursuant to Section 120.569 and Subsection 120.57(1),

Florida Statutes (2005).

19. Section 409.175, Florida Statutes (2004), relating to

licensure of family foster homes reads, in pertinent part:

(1)(a) The purpose of this section is to

protect the health, safety, and well-being

of all children in the state who are cared

for by family foster homes, residential

child-caring agencies, and child-placing

agencies by providing for the establishment

of licensing requirements for such homes and

agencies and providing procedures to

determine adherence to these requirements.

* * *

(2) As used in this section, the term:

* * *

(e) "Family foster home" means a private

residence in which children who are

unattended by a parent or legal guardian are

provided 24-hour care. Such homes include

emergency shelter family homes and

specialized foster homes for children with

special needs. A person who cares for a

child of a friend for a period not to exceed

90 days, a relative who cares for a child

and does not receive reimbursement for such

care from the state or federal government,

or an adoptive home which has been approved

by the department or by a licensed child-

placing agency for children placed for

adoption is not considered a family foster

home.

(f) "License" means "license" as defined

in s. 120.52(9). 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

proceeding or court action initiated by the

department.

(g) "Operator" means any onsite person

ultimately responsible for the overall

operation of a child-placing agency, family

foster home, or residential child-caring

agency, whether or not she or he is the

owner or administrator of such an agency or

home.

(h) "Owner" means the person who is

licensed to operate . . . family foster

home. . . .

20. Florida Administrative Code Rule 65C-13.009 provides,

in pertinent part:

Parent Preparation and Mutual Selection.

(1) Philosophy and Rationale. In January

1989 the department adopted the MAPP Group

Preparation and Selection program for use in

the preparation and selection of prospective

shelter, foster and adoptive parents. The

program provides a structured format through

which prospective parents can be prepared to

work with department staff as team members

in permanency planning. This program was

developed by the Child Welfare Institute and

predicated on the beliefs that shelter,

foster and adoptive parents need to be

prepared prior to the placement of children

in their homes and that they need to be

prepared to work as partners in permanency

planning.

* * *

(5) Requirements for Prospective Parents.

Prospective parents must:

(a) Attend ten meetings, a minimum of 30

hours, of pre-service training. Families

may not miss more than two sessions. Under

only rare circumstances can they miss

meeting three or four. If these specific

meetings are missed, the family must make up

the sessions and demonstrate an

understanding of the material. In

situations where an individual foster home

study is completed, the prospective foster

parent must demonstrate an understanding of

the pre-service materials and handouts.

(b) Complete a family portfolio.

(c) Sign an application for license.

(d) Sign a confidentiality statement.

(e) Meet minimum standards for shelter

and foster family care as found in

Administrative Chapter 65C-13, F.A.C., and

department policy.

21. Florida Administrative Code Rule 65C-13.011, Minimum

Standards for Licensure of Family Foster Homes, Family Emergency

Shelter Homes and Family Group Homes, provides, in pertinent

part:

Section 409.175(11)(a)2., F.S., makes

it unlawful for any person to make a

willful or intentional misstatement on

any license application or other

document required to be filed in

connection with an application for a

license. Such a violation is a

misdemeanor of the first degree,

punishable as provided in Section

775.082 or 775.083, F.S. Applicants

who make such willful or intentional

misstatements will have their license

denied or revoked. . . .

22. Subsection 409.175(9)(b)1., Florida Statutes (2004),

authorizes Respondent to deny, suspend, or revoke a license for

an intentional or negligent act materially affecting the health

or safety of children in the home.

23. Petitioners are seeking a family foster home license

for the first time. As the party asserting the affirmative of

an issue before this administrative tribunal, Petitioners have

the burden of proof. Florida Department of Transportation v.

J.W.C. Company , 396 So. 2d 778 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981). In

addition, the license which Petitioners seek is not a

professional license and does not create a property right.

establish facts by a preponderance of evidence to establish

entitlement to the license. Department of Banking and Finance

v. Osborne Stern & Co. , 670 So. 2d 932, 934 (Fla. 1996).

24. Petitioners have not met their burden. In view of

Petitioner Kim Lantz's significant omission or misstatements on

her application for a family foster home license during the

course of the investigation and at the hearing, the evidence is

insufficient to establish entitlement to a license which is a

public trust and a privilege. The evidence is unclear that

Petitioners will be responsible foster parents if they are given

a license to operate a family foster home.

RECOMMENDATION

Based on the foregoing Findings of Facts and Conclusions of

Law, it is

RECOMMENDED that Petitioners, Kim and Coby Lantz's

application for a family foster home license be denied.

DONE AND ENTERED this 28th day of October, 2005, in

Tallahassee, Leon County, Florida.

S

DANIEL M. KILBRIDE

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 28th day of October, 2005.

COPIES FURNISHED :

Richard Cato, Esquire

Department of Children and

Family Services

400 West Robinson Street, Suite S-1106

Orlando, Florida 32801-1782

Kim Lantz

Coby Lantz

6983 Dahlia Drive

Cocoa, Florida 32927

Gregory Venz, Agency Clerk

Department of Children and

Family Services

1317 Winewood Boulevard

Building 2, Room 204B

Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0700

Josie Tomayo, General Counsel

Department of Children and

Family Services

1317 Winewood Boulevard

Building 2, Room 204

Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0700

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.