N.C. v. Department of Children and Families

Overview

N.C. v. Department of Children and Families  (Florida Second District Court of Appeal, Jan. 31, 2020): A Florida state appellate court found in favor of a mother whose children were placed in foster care, stating that the Florida Department of Children and Families could not provide immunizations to the children over their mother’s objection. The Department asked the trial court to grant its request to provide the children with “their necessary immunizations.” It alleged that no daycare providers or pediatricians in the area would take children without immunizations and that the foster family could lose its license by having unvaccinated children in the home. The trial court ruled in the Department’s favor. Reversing the trial court’s interlocutory order, the court found insufficient statutory basis for the trial court to authorize the Department to have the children immunized over the mother’s religious-based objection. It further noted that the trial court’s ruling would have resulted in an injury that could not be corrected at a later stage because vaccinations cannot be undone. Read the decision here.

View all cases in the Judicial Trends in Public Health – March 17, 2020.

View all cases under “Preventing and Treating Communicable Conditions.”