Welcome to DependencyDefense.com

What's any interesting site anymore without a blog? It's a slightly less interesting site, that's what it is.

DependencyDefense.com is a site with, admittedly, a narrow audience. It's about, well, dependency defense. This blog is based in Florida, but suspects that it will find interest in those practicing dependency law elsewhere (though there is little competent evidence to suggest that blogs can, in fact, suspect anything at all).

In Florida, we who defend indigent parents who have had their kids taken by DCF are in something of a state of confusion. At least those of us whose practice is composed all or mostly of dependency cases are, at least, a bit apprehensive about what used to be called SB1088 and is now called Chapter 2007-62.

For those who don't know, or who didn't arrive here from the DependencyDefense website, the gist of it is that in dependency cases, which just happen to have a lot of indigent (poor) people involved in them, private attorneys have handled them on behalf of the Good People of Florida for years at discount rates.

In my county, for instance (Orange, which is a population center and has a lot of dependency cases), attorneys were paid $65 an hour until a few years ago, which was bumped to $80 an hour and then recently was slashed to a $750 flat rate for an entire case (which often go on for years).

Now, I recognize that your regular fellow/felless reader might think that that's a lot of money, and I don't blame him/her for thinking that, but trust me, it is not. As far as hourly rates go, that falls (according to a Florida Bar graphic on an issue of FlaBarNews last year sometime) in the bottom 3% of hourly fees charged by Florida lawyers. It turns out, in fact, that it's less than most paralegals in this state earn.

Not that this blog is about whining over that. It isn't. That's just background. This blog is about what is going to happen to dependency defense in the Great State of Florida in the very near future, and about discussing what can be done to ensure continuity of quality legal representation of those involved in court cases with DCF.

What is happening, as explained on the DD.com website (I'm abbreviating there, I imagine that DD.com actually is a website, and probably has content I don't want my kids looking at) (OK, I just checked, and while it concerns subject matter one might expect, it really isn't that bad) (as of June 9, 2007, anyway), is that all dependency cases with poor parents will be handled by a new state agency.

That's what's great about blogs. Only in a blog can you get away with three parenthetical asides in one sentence.

The thing is, that new state agency has between now and October 1, 2007, to somehow spring forth fully formed from the head of Zeus and start litigating complex cases, and to date there are no publicly visible signs of progress there.

Private dependency defense attorneys are going to have to get smart, adapt to the new situation, and be genuinely committed to helping the new system work. That's what this blog is about.