Rule 6-28.4 - RECERTIFICATIONThe applicant must satisfy the following requirements for recertification during the 5-year period immediately preceding the application date.
(a) Substantial Involvement. The applicant must have continuous and substantial involvement in the field of adoption law. The applicant must have devoted at least 40 percent of the applicant's practice to adoption law and met the minimum case requirements below. Service as a guardian ad litem, standing alone, is not substantial involvement. All qualified adoption placements and contested adoption proceedings must conclude within the required 5-year period, except that an adoption appeal may qualify for consideration after submission of a written brief to the appellate court.
(1)Adoption Placements. The applicant must have either presided over as a judge or general magistrate, or handled as an advocate, a minimum of 30 adoption placements in which the applicant was substantially involved as defined in this subchapter. All placements must have involved the placement of a minor child with an adoptive family who is not related to the child within the third degree of consanguinity or is not the minor child's stepparent. The applicant may include no more than 3 cases where substantial involvement is demonstrated on legal work accomplished for an adoption plan that did not result in adoptive placement. (A) The applicant must have appeared before the court as the adoption entity, as defined in the Florida Adoption Act, on behalf of the adoptive parents or as the lawyer for the adoption entity and been responsible for at least 50 percent of the legal decisions concerning the minor child's adoption placement, termination of the biological and legal parents' parental rights, and finalization of the adoption in each of the 30 adoption placements.(B) Adoption placements and legal proceedings simultaneously undertaken with respect to the same child or sibling group is 1 adoption placement.(C) Adoption placements will not include the: (i) domestication of intercountry adoptions;(ii) termination of parental rights under Chapter 39, Florida Statutes; or(iii) finalization of an adoption where the applicant was not substantially involved in the placement of the child as set forth in this subchapter or the termination of parental rights under the Florida Adoption Act.(2)Contested Adoption Proceedings or Adoption Appeals. The applicant must demonstrate substantial involvement as defined in this subdivision in a minimum of 10 contested adoption proceedings or adoption appeals within the 5 years immediately preceding the application date if the applicant does not meet the minimum requirement of 30 adoption placements. The applicant must demonstrate responsibility for at least 50 percent of the legal work in preparing and presenting the case in each of these 10 contested adoption proceedings or adoption appeals and meet the following requirements. (A) Contested Adoption Proceedings. A contested adoption proceedings is a contested proceeding under the Florida Adoption Act, including a proceeding to terminate parental rights in furtherance of adoption, an adoption proceeding, or an intervention. An eligible contested adoption includes, but is not limited to, a private adoption placement, a contested stepparent or relative adoption, or a proceeding in which the court grants or denies intervention includes: (i) includes an adversarial evidentiary hearing or trial in which the applicant has substantial involvement as defined in this subdivision, and the ultimate issues are submitted to the trier of fact for final resolution;(ii) includes an adversarial evidentiary hearing or trial in which the applicant has substantial involvement as defined in this subdivision, and the ultimate issues are resolved with a mediator or by the parties before the issues are submitted to the trier of fact for final resolution; or(iii) involves extraordinary, complex contested litigation in which the applicant has substantial involvement, and the ultimate issues are resolved with a mediator or by the parties prior to an adversarial evidentiary hearing or trial.(B) Adoption Appeal. An adoption appeal is any appeal arising under the Florida Adoption Act, whether the issue was presented pre- or post-finalization of the adoption. An adoption appeal is only eligible for consideration when the applicant establishes that the applicant was responsible for a majority of the legal decisions in each matter, including the filing of principal briefs in an appellate case or the filing of petitions or responses in extraordinary writ cases. In all cases, the applicant must specifically identify any co-counsel and demonstrate that the applicant's level of participation was substantial and direct. In support of the application requesting credit for an adoption appeal, the applicant must submit each brief and appropriately redact all identifying information regarding birth and adoptive families. The applicant must have been responsible for all or at least 50 percent of the legal decisions in each case in each of these 10 contested adoption appeals. A brief, including an amicus brief, written for different appellate levels (i.e. district court, Supreme Court of Florida and federal courts) may be submitted as a separate appellate case handled by the applicant, but cases arising from a single proceeding may not be counted more than twice. Briefs written for different appellate levels must be substantially different in order to be counted twice.(3)Related Adoption Proceedings. The applicant must have advocated for a party or participant in a related adoption proceeding and demonstrate that the applicant was substantially involved as defined in this subchapter. No more than 3 related adoption proceedings will be counted. (A) The applicant must have been responsible for at least 50 percent of the legal work in the related adoption proceeding.(B) Related adoption proceedings and other legal proceedings simultaneously undertaken with respect to the same child or sibling group will be deemed collectively as 1 adoption placement or related adoption proceeding.(4)Application Requirements. The applicant meets the substantial involvement requirements by submitting proof of 30 adoption placements or 10 contested adoption proceedings or appeals as required in the adoption law certification standards; or the applicant may submit an application detailing his or her substantial involvement in a combination of adoption placements and contested adoption proceedings/appeals to be considered by the committee as follows: (A) Each adoption placement, contested adoption proceeding, or appeal will be assigned points as set forth below. The applicant must submit a minimum of 60 points for review. Points will be awarded as follows:(i) Each adoption placement as defined in this subdivision will be assigned 2 points.(ii) Each contested adoption proceeding as defined in this subdivision will be assigned 6 points.(iii) Each adoption appeal as defined in this subdivision will be assigned 6 points.(iv) Each related adoption proceeding as defined in this subdivision will be assigned 6 points.(B) The point system in this subdivision will be used solely to determine whether an applicant has met the minimum combination number of cases.(C) Cases that involve the same child or sibling group will not be considered for more than 1 adoption placement, contested proceeding, or appeal (adoption matter). For good cause shown, the applicant may count cases as 2 adoption matters if the applicant meets the separate substantial involvement requirements for each event. No case involving the same child or sibling group will be counted as more than 2 adoption matters.(5)Waiver. The adoption law certification committee may waive the minimum number of cases for an applicant who has been continuously board certified in adoption law under these standards for a period of 14 years or more.(b) Education. The applicant must complete 50 credit hours of approved continuing legal education in the field of adoption law since the last application of certification or recertification.(c) Peer Review.(1)Lawyer References. The applicant must submit the names and addresses of 3 lawyers, at least 2 of which must be members of The Florida Bar with their principal office located in the state of Florida who neither are relatives nor current associates or partners, to complete peer review forms. These lawyers must be involved in adoption law and familiar with the applicant's practice.(2)Judicial References. The applicant must submit the names and addresses of at least 2 judges before whom the applicant has appeared on adoption matters within the 2-year period immediately preceding the application date to complete peer review forms. New subchapter added June 11, 2009, (SC08-1981), (11 So.3d 343); amended and effective 5/20/2016 by The Florida Bar Board of Governors; amended and effective 12/4/2020 by The Florida Bar Board of Governors; amended and effective 3/25/2022 by The Florida Bar Board of Governors.