Meanwhile, the state Department of Children & Families has suddenly asked to intervene in the seven-year-old legal dispute over whether Schiavo would want to be kept alive after 15 years in what most doctors say is a persistent vegetative state.

A DCF attorney filed a ``petition for intervention'' minutes before Circuit Judge George Greer took the bench Wednesday to hear Bob and Mary Schindler's request that he hold off on allowing the removal of their daughter's life- sustaining feeding tube.

DCF attorney Kelly Jo McKibben asked Greer to seal her petition. Greer declined to hear the request but subsequently kept the document in his chambers and it was unavailable for review.

Afterward, McKibben declined to reveal the grounds for DCF's involvement in the case.

The lawyer leading the battle to remove Terri Schiavo's feeding tube said the agency's sudden interest at such a late stage in the case ``reeks of the intervention of politics.''

``It's no secret that the politicians were saying yesterday in Tallahassee that if there was anything they could think of [to keep Terri Schiavo alive] they would,'' said George Felos, who represents Michael Schiavo in his quest to remove his wife's feeding tube.

``The DCF is part of the executive branch and Jeb Bush heads the executive branch,'' Felos said.

Michael Schiavo has cooperated with the DCF during past investigations, Felos said.

``There have been an endless series of complaints made to the DCF over the past six years and all were unfounded. ... I can't think of a logical reason why the DCF would take action now'' absent political pressure, he said.

The DCF's move came just hours after Gov. Bush said he was looking for a way to keep Terri Schiavo alive.

Bush said at news conference earlier in the day he would do anything ``within the laws of the state'' to help the Schindlers keep their daughter alive.

The Gulfport couple say their daughter reacts to them and could improve with therapy. They dispute their son-in- law's contention that Terri Schiavo made statements before her illness indicating she would not want to be kept alive by artificial means with no hope of improvement.

Terri Schiavo, 41, suffered a still-unexplained heart failure that cut off oxygen to her brain in 1990 at age 26. After a 2000 nonjury trial, Greer ruled that testimony from Michael Schiavo and his relatives showed Terri Schiavo would not want to be kept alive.

``I will do what I can. But there are limits to what anyone, irrespective of their title, at any time can do,'' the governor said of his desire to help the Schindlers.

In October 2003, Bush ordered Terri Schiavo's feeding tube reinserted six days after her husband had it removed on court orders. The hastily crafted measure Bush relied on to intervene, dubbed Terri's Law, was struck down as unconstitutional.

Schindler attorney David Gibbs said the DCF will need time to investigate what he characterized as ``medical, physical and legal neglect.''

The Schindlers' goal at Wednesday's hearing was to get more time to fight for their daughter's life, and Gibbs called the DCF intervention ``another in a series of miracles'' that have kept her alive.

The judge granted the Schindlers an additional 48- hour stay while he considers their latest requests for time to appeal earlier rulings, seek additional medical testing and contest Michael Schiavo's fitness as their daughter's legal guardian.

``We are really elated,'' Bob Schindler said. ``Forty-eight hours to us right now seems like six years.''

DCF Chief of Staff Bill Spann, reached in Tallahassee, said the agency is required by state law to investigate any allegations of abuse or neglect of elders, disabled and other vulnerable adults.

The law also prohibits the DCF from disclosing abuse allegations or other information about specific cases, he said.

If an allegation is made by an individual who has credible knowledge of abuse or neglect, the state launches an adult protective investigation, Spann said. If the allegations are found to be credible, the DCF determines what actions are necessary.

Reporter Allison North Jones contributed to this report.