L.A. v. Dept. of Children and Families

Third District Court of Appeal State of Florida Opinion filed October 19, 2016. ________________ No. 3D16-1792 Lower Tribunal No. 13-15647 ________________ L.A., the mother, Appellant, vs. Department of Children & Families, et al., Appellees. An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Martin Zilber, Judge. Eugene F. Zenobi, Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel, Third Region, and Kevin Coyle Colbert, Assistant Regional Counsel, for appellant. Karla Perkins, Appellate Counsel for the Department of Children & Families; Laura J. Lee (Sanford), Appellate Counsel for the Guardian ad Litem Program, for appellees. Before SHEPHERD, LAGOA and EMAS, JJ. SHEPHERD, J. ON CONCESSION OF ERROR Upon the Department of Children and Families’ and the Guardian ad Litem Program’s appropriate concession of error in the trial court’s sua sponte order placing the minor children, C.Y., N.Y. and T.Y., in permanent guardianship with the paternal grandmother, without notice to the mother as well as without an evidentiary hearing, in violation of the mother’s due process rights, we reverse and remand for an evidentiary hearing. See In re K.M., 86 So. 3d 556 (Fla. 2d DCA 2012). Reversed and remanded for further proceedings. 2