In re Adelia A. CA2/3

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 13, 2025
DocketB335976
StatusUnpublished

This text of In re Adelia A. CA2/3 (In re Adelia A. CA2/3) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Adelia A. CA2/3, (Cal. Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

Filed 2/13/25 In re Adelia A. CA2/3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS

California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT DIVISION THREE

In re ADELIA A., a Person Coming B335976 Under the Juvenile Court Law. (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. 20CCJP01837B)

LOS ANGELES COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES,

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v.

M.A. et al.,

Defendants and Appellants.

APPEAL from orders of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Nancy Ramirez, Judge. Affirmed. Sean Angele Burleigh, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant M.A. Maryann M. Goode, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant V.P. Dawyn R. Harrison, County Counsel, Kim Nemoy, Assistant County Counsel, and Aileen Wong, Deputy County Counsel, for Plaintiff and Respondent. _________________________________ M.A. (father) and V.P. (mother) appeal from juvenile court orders denying their petitions to reinstate family reunification services (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 388)1 and terminating parental rights to their daughter, Adelia A. (§ 366.26). We affirm. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND I. Background Mother has eight children born between 2007 and 2022. Father is the parent of the two youngest children, Adelia and S.A. Only Adelia is the subject of this appeal. Mother has a long history of substance abuse. She began using marijuana and methamphetamines in 2004 or 2005, when she was 15 or 16 years old, and she began using heroin in 2012. She had periods of sobriety after the births of several of her children, but she began using again during a four-year prison term between 2013 and 2017, and she continued using after her release. Mother was in and out of jail for drug activity and parole violations between 2017 and 2020, and she suffered a heroin overdose in 2020. Mother did not have custody of any of her six older children when Adelia was born in 2021. Four of the children had spent most of their lives in legal guardianship with the maternal

1 All undesignated statutory references are to the Welfare and Institutions Code.

2 grandmother and great-grandmother; when the maternal grandmother and great-grandmother died in 2021, three children were placed with maternal great-aunt Carmen M., and one child, Melody P., was placed with the maternal grandfather. Mother’s other two children had been the subject of dependency proceedings and were adopted by relatives. Father began using marijuana when he was 20 years old and had used methamphetamines “a few times.” He tested positive for methamphetamines shortly after Adelia’s birth. II. Petition and Disposition Adelia was born in June 2021. Mother and Adelia tested positive for marijuana at her birth, and Adelia’s umbilical cord was positive for methamphetamines and cannabis. The Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (Department) was notified, and mother checked herself and Adelia into a residential drug treatment program immediately upon their discharge from the hospital.2 The Department filed a petition pursuant to section 300, subdivisions (b) and (j) in July 2021, and an amended petition in December 2021. In December 2021, the juvenile court sustained allegations that mother had a history of substance abuse, was a recent abuser of heroin, methamphetamine, and marijuana, and tested positive for marijuana at the time of Adelia’s birth; two of Adelia’s siblings were prior or current juvenile court dependents and had received or were receiving permanent placement services due to mother’s substance abuse; and father had a history of substance abuse and was a current abuser of marijuana and methamphetamine. The juvenile court declared Adelia a

2 Sometime after Adelia’s birth, the maternal grandfather sent Melody to live with mother.

3 dependent child, removed her from father’s custody, and released her to mother on the condition that mother remain in her inpatient program, drug test, and comply with her case plan. The court ordered father to participate in a full drug/alcohol program, complete a parenting program, and drug test. In January 2022, mother missed two drug tests, and in late February 2022, she tested positive for methamphetamines. Mother’s case manager reported that mother was rarely at her sober living home other than to attend group meetings twice a week, and she had been seen leaving the home with Adelia to meet father. Further, the case manager had asked to search mother’s belongings and found a pouch with a urine sample in mother’s purse. Mother admitted she had intended to use the urine sample when drug testing. As for father, in late February 2022, his treatment center counselor said father had enrolled in an outpatient program but was not attending the group classes or seeing his counselor. Father claimed he could not drug test because he had Covid-19, but he did not provide evidence of a positive Covid-19 test result. The Department removed nine-month-old Adelia and three- year-old Melody from mother in March 2022. The girls were placed with maternal great-aunt Carmen, where several of their siblings were also living. III. The Section 387 Supplemental Petition In March 2022, the Department filed a section 387 supplemental petition. The petition alleged that mother had tested positive for methamphetamines in February 2022, and mother and father violated the juvenile court’s orders by allowing father to visit Adelia in an unsupervised setting. Later that

4 month, the juvenile court ordered Adelia detained and granted the parents monitored visits with her three times per week. Between January and April 2022, mother and father each missed nine drug tests. In March 2022, mother avoided the Department’s phone calls and was not in an inpatient treatment program. Further, although mother was permitted to see the children three times per week, she visited Adelia just twice between mid-March and late April 2022. During one visit, mother was awaiting a phone call, did not appear engaged, and left after only one hour; during the other visit, she appeared to be under the influence of drugs. Father did not visit. Mother tested positive for methamphetamine, amphetamine, and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in early June 2022. Later that month, the juvenile court sustained the new counts of the section 387 petition and removed Adelia from parental custody. The court granted father reunification services, but denied mother such services. Father’s court-ordered case plan included a full drug and alcohol program, a 12-step program, a parenting program, individual counseling, and weekly drug testing. The court also ordered twice-weekly monitored visits. IV. Six and Twelve Month Review Hearings. At the six-month review hearing in January 2023, the juvenile court found father’s progress had not been substantial but continued his reunification services. At the 12-month review hearing in May 2023, the juvenile court terminated father’s reunification services and set a section 366.26 hearing. V. The Section 388 Petitions In September 2023, mother filed a section 388 petition to reinstate her reunification services. Mother asserted she had successfully completed an outpatient drug and alcohol program in

5 May and an aftercare program in August 2023, was attending 12- step meetings, and had consistently tested negative for all substances since September 2022. Mother had been granted unmonitored visits with one of Adelia’s siblings.

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Bluebook (online)
In re Adelia A. CA2/3, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-adelia-a-ca23-calctapp-2025.