Fla. Stat. § 39.823

This is the official text of Fla. Stat. § 39.823, part of Florida’s Stat — part of the compiled statutory law of Florida, published by the state as "Stat." Browse the sections below, each linked to its official government source.

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39.823 Guardian advocates for drug dependent newborns.

Official statutory text

The Legislature finds that increasing numbers of drug dependent children are born in this state. Because of the parents’ continued dependence upon drugs, the parents may temporarily leave their child with a relative or other adult or may have agreed to voluntary family services under s. 39.301(14). The relative or other adult may be left with a child who is likely to require medical treatment but for whom they are unable to obtain medical treatment. The purpose of this section is to provide an expeditious method for such relatives or other responsible adults to obtain a court order which allows them to provide consent for medical treatment and otherwise advocate for the needs of the child and to provide court review of such authorization.

History: s. 2, ch. 89-345; s. 104, ch. 98-403; s. 19, ch. 99-168; s. 5, ch. 2003-127; s. 14, ch. 2009-43; s. 18, ch. 2012-178.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.