Biological parents make the difficult choice to voluntarily place their child for adoption for a variety of reasons. Florida’s adoption intervention statute aims to honor a parent’s choice while promoting the child’s best interest by providing permanency. Under the adoption intervention statute, a parent whose child is removed from his or her physical custody by the Department of Children and Families has the right to choose a private adoption instead of working a case plan for reunification. While adoption is not the first, or best, choice for every situation, there are many benefits to electing a private adoption instead of allowing the child to be adopted through, or potentially languish in, Florida’s foster care system.
Private adoption through adoption intervention allows a parent to regain a sense of control and play an active role in the child’s permanency by choosing an adoptive placement for the child. Although a seemingly straightforward process, adoption intervention has caused frustration for the court and parties involved. The statute’s current state provides insufficient guidance to the court. The working relationships between the main parties involved in an intervention proceeding are sometimes complicated, on one or more sides, by over-zealous representation and mutual skepticism about each other’s position as to the purposes of the intervention statute, how it should be interpreted and applied by the court, and the child’s best interest. As a result, courts across the state of Florida interpret and apply the statute differently. Consistency is not easily found, even within the same circuit. This Article identifies issues within the current structure of the adoption intervention statute and its application, provides an overview of the competing interests, and proposes solutions to promote cooperation between all parties involved to come closer to a mutual understanding of navigating adoption interventions.