In re Andres R. CA4/2

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 12, 2025
DocketE079972A
StatusUnpublished

This text of In re Andres R. CA4/2 (In re Andres R. CA4/2) 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 Andres R. CA4/2, (Cal. Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

Filed 11/12/25 In re Andres R. CA4/2 Opinion following transfer from Supreme Court NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION TWO

In re ANDRES R., a Person Coming Under the Juvenile Court Law.

RIVERSIDE COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SOCIAL SERVICES, E079972

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Super.Ct.No. RIJ2200411)

v. OPINION

A.R.,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from the Superior Court of Riverside County. Dorothy McLaughlin,

Judge. Affirmed.

Neale B. Gold, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and

Appellant.

Minh C. Tran, County Counsel, Teresa K.B. Beecham and Julie K. Jarvi, Deputy

County Counsel, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

1 A.R. (Father) appeals from the juvenile court’s dispositional order adjudging his

son, Andres R., a dependent of the court and removing the child from his custody. The

court also ordered reunification services for Father. On appeal, Father challenges the

sufficiency of the evidence supporting the court’s jurisdictional finding and the removal

order. He also argues that the Riverside County Department of Public Social Services

(DPSS) failed to comply with state law implementing the Indian Child Welfare Act of

1978 (ICWA) (25 U.S.C. § 1901 et seq.).

In the unpublished portion of a prior opinion, we held that substantial evidence

supported the jurisdictional finding and the removal order. In the published portion of

the prior opinion, we rejected Father’s ICWA argument, concluding that DPSS did not

err by failing to ask various extended family members about Andres’s potential Indian

ancestry.1 (In re Andres R. (2023) 94 Cal.App.5th 828.) Our Supreme Court granted

review and deferred further action pending consideration and disposition of In re Ja.O.

(2025) 18 Cal.5th 271 (Ja.O.). While this matter was under review, Father and D.P.

(Mother) appealed from the juvenile court’s order terminating parental rights, and we

affirmed that order in an unpublished opinion. (In re Joseph P. (May 19, 2025, E084575)

[nonpub. opn.] (Joseph P.).)

The Supreme Court recently transferred this case back to us with directions to

vacate our prior opinion and reconsider the appeal in light of Ja.O. We gave the parties

1 Because ICWA uses the term “Indian,” we use it as well “to reflect the statutory language.” (In re Dezi C. (2024) 16 Cal.5th 1112, 1125, fn. 1.) No disrespect is intended. 2 the opportunity to file supplemental briefs addressing matters arising after our previous

decision. (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 8.200(b)(2).) Father filed a letter stating that he

would not be submitting a supplemental brief in light of Joseph P. DPSS did not file a

supplemental brief or otherwise respond to our order permitting supplemental briefs.

Having complied with the Supreme Court’s directions, we affirm.

BACKGROUND

I. Detention

Father’s one-year-old son, Andres R., came to DPSS’s attention in May 2022,

when Mother called law enforcement to report domestic violence. Mother reported that

Father put her in a headlock and choked her. She freed herself from the headlock and

tried to call law enforcement, but Father grabbed her phone and threw it. He then drove

off. Mother put Andres and his two half-siblings in her car, which contained only one car

seat, and chased Father’s car. She called law enforcement during that chase. Andres and

his half-siblings witnessed the altercation but were not injured.2 Mother refused an

emergency protective order.

The social worker went to the family’s hotel room the following day. The family

had been living at the hotel for two years. The front desk agent described Father as mean

and aggressive with staff. A hotel guest said that he heard screaming inside the family’s

room the night before and again that morning. The social worker heard voices and a

television inside the family’s room, but no one answered the door for over an hour, so the

2 Mother is not a party to this appeal, nor are the fathers of Andres’s half-siblings. 3 social worker called law enforcement to conduct a welfare check. Father opened the door

when the officers knocked on it, but he attempted to close it when he saw them.

Although Father resisted the officers, they eventually arrested him. Mother closed the

hotel room door and refused to open it when the officers were dealing with Father.

Father yelled to Mother that she should not open the door or come outside. One of the

officers got a room key from hotel staff and tried to open the door, but the key did not

work. The social worker later discovered that the parents had removed the batteries from

the key reader on the door.

Mother came out of the hotel room after the officers took Father away. She told

the social worker that Father was upset the day before because paternal grandfather had

been killed. Father “got in her face,” put her in a headlock, and choked her. She had red

marks on both sides of her neck. She allowed Father to return to the hotel room after the

incident because she loved him and he lived there. She described Father as a good man

and a good father, and she said that yesterday was the first time “he ha[d] ever done

anything like this.”

Andres’s half-sister, who was nearly six years old, told the social worker that

Father was mad and threw Mother across the bed. He also hit Mother with his fist, which

the child demonstrated by making a fist. Mother looked scared. The child could not

remember what anyone had said. She told the social worker that she had seen Father hit

Mother before. Andres’s half-brother, who was nearly four years old, seemed not to

4 understand the social worker’s questions and made no statements. Father refused to be

interviewed for the detention report.

The social worker also reported on the condition of the family’s hotel room and

included photographs with the detention report. Trash and other things were all over the

floor, and the room was very dark because the lights did not work. The social worker

tripped twice as she was trying to navigate the room and asked Mother to open the

curtains. The window had two large cracks in it, and the mirrored closet door was also

cracked. The parents had divided the room by hanging a tarp across it. There were piles

of boxes, bags, and other objects against every wall and a makeshift wall and a tall pile of

items behind the couch. A makeshift fan was hanging from the ceiling in the bathroom,

and the floor in there was also littered with trash, including acrylic paint bottles. The

counter in the kitchenette area was covered with items, including a blade within the

children’s reach. The social worker asked Mother to clean up the room as much as

possible so that the children did not trip or hurt themselves.

Mother told the social worker that she did not have any Indian ancestry. The

worker was unable to ask Father about Indian ancestry because of his refusal to be

interviewed.

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In re Andres R. CA4/2, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-andres-r-ca42-calctapp-2025.