We all know there have been more than 6 dependency cases filed statewide. And the people have the constitutional right to access the courts and judicial records. So what gives? 

The Florida Legislature wrote a law (39.815 and 39.510) that requires Florida appellate courts to AUTOMATICALLY, CATEGORICALLY seal ALL documents filed in EVERY dependency appeal, FOREVER. We’re not talking about the lower court’s record on appeal. That was already sealed. And the law already required the parties to redact all identifying information in their motions, briefs, and petitions. Therefore, the only practical function of this law is to insulate two government agencies from any transparency or accountability for the legal positions they take.

But then the rules committees and the appellate clerks took it even further. They SUPERsealed all dependency appeals, concealing their mere existence from the public. Fortunately, when we brought this to the attention of the clerk at the Fourth DCA, he took the initative to undo some of the supersealing. Unfortunately, the law limits clerks’ ability to disclose the docket activity or attorneys associated with a case, so the public still has no way of seeing anything other than a list of case numbers.

If you’re unfamiliar with dependency appeals, it’s usually a 2-to-1 set-up, with DCF and the Statewide GAL Office on one side, and a vulnerable family on the other. Pretty daunting, right? Seems like people should know what legal arguments OUR government is asserting on OUR behalf to supposedly protect families. How many appeals are filed? How are the appellate courts disposing of these appeals? When Floridians raise important constitutional issues in dependency appeals–like due process and separation of powers–don’t we want to know what our government agencies are telling the courts? And learn about those appeals in a timely manner so that subject matter experts may move to file as amici and help the courts interpret child welfare laws consistently?

*Note: A few of the searches on ACIS used initials instead of names, indicating confidentiality. But further review of these cases indicated that these cases likely did not arise out of chapter 39 proceedings and arose from other types of proceedings, such as administrative. Combined with missing appeals that we know for sure existed, we believe all dependency appeals in Florida have been “supersealed” so that no one even knows of the existence of the case other than the parties and court staff.