Why families come to Connect Attorneys
Connect Attorneys is a Miami law firm serving clients throughout South Florida. Our family law attorneys focus on giving clients clear information and steady guidance, explaining how Florida law may apply and what to expect at each stage. Every client works directly with an attorney, and we serve South Florida families in English and Spanish.
What a DCF Investigation Involves
DCF is the Department of Children and Families, and an investigation follows rules. Investigators are required to conduct face-to-face interviews with the child, any siblings, and the parents or caregivers, and to assess the home. If a parent denies reasonable access to a child and the department believes the child's interests require it, the law directs the department to seek an appropriate court order or other legal authority (F.S. §39.301(12)). Investigations must generally be completed within 60 days, and they end in one of three ways: the case is closed, the family is referred to voluntary services, or the department files a dependency petition in court.
(Source: Fla. Stat. § 39.301.)
If Your Child Was Removed: The 24-Hour Shelter Hearing
Removal triggers the fastest deadline in family court. A child may not be held in shelter longer than 24 hours unless a judge orders it after a shelter hearing. At that hearing the court must find, among other things, probable cause that the child is dependent, that remaining at home would present a substantial and immediate danger, and that the department made reasonable efforts to prevent the removal. Parents are entitled to notice that best ensures they actually know when and where the hearing is, and to be heard and present evidence at it. What happens in that first hearing shapes everything after it.
(Source: Fla. Stat. § 39.402.)
Your Right to a Lawyer
Florida law requires the court to inform parents of their right to counsel at each stage of a dependency case, and to appoint counsel for parents who cannot afford one. That appointed representation matters, and so does what you do with the earliest days of the case, before hearings are set: how the first conversations with investigators go, what gets documented, and whether deadlines are met. That is the window where preparation does its quietest, most important work.
(Source: Fla. Stat. § 39.013(9)(a).)
The Case Plan Is the Road Home
If a child is adjudicated dependent, the court approves a case plan: the document that says what must change and by when. Parents are entitled to be involved in developing it, including through a face-to-face conference, and the plan must identify the problems it addresses, the permanency goal, and the compliance period, which expires no later than 12 months after the child's removal, the adjudication, or the court's acceptance of the plan, whichever comes first. Reunification is among the permanency goals the plan can carry. Working the plan, on time and on the record, is the path this process is built around.
(Source: Fla. Stat. § 39.6011.)
What Is at Stake, Plainly
Most dependency cases end with families back together. But the far end of Chapter 39 is the termination of parental rights, and the record built month by month, hearings attended, services completed, visits kept, is what separates the two outcomes. This is a process that rewards early, steady, documented engagement, and punishes silence and missed dates. Our firm's job is to keep you ahead of it: at the investigation stage, at the shelter hearing, and through every review that follows. We serve families in English and Spanish; the rest of the family-court framework is on our family law overview.
This is general information about Florida law, not legal advice. How these rules apply depends on the details of your situation. Talking with an attorney is the clearest way to understand what they mean for you.